This Day in Norwood History-January 23, 1964-Board Rejects Naming HS Wing For Kennedy

The Norwood School Committee at their meeting last Wednesday night, in rejecting the proposal of the Board of Selectmen to honor the late President John F. Kennedy by naming the new wing of the Senior High for him, was in complete accord that it was not “a fitting monument to his memory.” Francis Sheehan did not feel that the rear of a building or an addition was worthy of the honor. “Possibly a new structure, such as a junior high school, which it is obvious we are going to have to build, that is fairly centrally located, and that all children will eventually attend, would make more sense.

Suggested as a possibility for consideration by Joseph Olshan was the naming of a new elementary school for John Kennedy. John Cavanaugh noted that although these suggestions were appropriate, they were not within the jurisdiction of the School Committee to initiate. Chairman Thomas White stated that the authority to name schools, as far as he knew, rested with the building committee. However, Mr. Cavanaugh was of the opinion that although the building committee has done it of late, the right to name schools has never been “spelled out.”