The DC City Council approved the name change from John Tyler Elementary School to Shirley Chisholm Elementary School on January 9th, 2024.
Shirley Chisholm Elementary School
Changing our name to Shirley Chisholm Elementary School
On January 9th, 2024, the DC Council voted and approved our school name change from John Tyler to Shirley Chisholm Elementary School. For the past several years, our community sought to change our name with a goal to better reflect the values of our school community. This process was filled with immense thought, research, and input across our vast DC community.
In 2020, we started the process of renaming John Tyler Elementary School in order to have a school name that better reflected our values. The 22-23 goal was to complete that process by choosing a new name to present to DCPS and the City Council for approval.
Countless meetings, workshops, and forums were held amongst community members, families, students, staff, and neighbors.
The PTA put out three surveys: in 2021, 2022, and 2023 to collect ideas from students and families. A PTA subcommittee of 8 Tyler parents met on April 12 and April 20 to review 121 nominated names that had been suggested. Those that were ineligible (due to a person not being deceased for at least 2 years or because another school already had the name) were removed. The remaining 75 names were assigned to committee members to be scored according to the following 7 criteria: person or place historic significance, contribution or significance to black history, contribution or significance to Hispanic history, contribution or significance to the arts, notable woman in history, Washington DC relevance, contribution or significance to social justice. Each nominee received one point for each criteria met. Four nominees received a score of seven, 11 received a score of six, the rest received less. The four highest scoring renaming candidates were: Elizabeth Catlett, Shirley Horn, Shirley Chisholm, and Toni Morrison.
After an extensive ranked-choice voting process in June 2023, including former staff, families, community members, students, & caregivers, the community voted on a new name: Shirley Chisholm Elementary School.
The DC Council approved the name change in January 2024.
Renaming Tyler Elementary
“I no longer want my children to walk into a school named after someone who thought them to be less than human.”
Aaron Kershaw, Chisholm parent leader for nearly a decade, wrote an article about the history of our school’s name and the community’s desire for change.
Under Kindred, we started a DEI advocacy group, Tigers Together.