Wednesday, October 28, 2026Acton, Massachusetts

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Opinion

Naming school library for Ellen Garrison ‘a suitable compromise’

That would be a full honor, rather than a tacked on acknowledgement of her educational and social justice contributions.

I was dismayed to learn that the School Committee voted, without community input, to name the middle school building after Ellen Garrison. I think naming steel, brick and/or concrete after Ms. Garrison is insensitive and disrespectful. Black people have been sidelined and granted leftovers for 400 years. Although I would prefer the middle school name be the Ellen Garrison Middle School, I would support naming the middle school library after her as a suitable compromise, given her literacy activism. That would be a full honor, rather than a tacked on acknowledgement of her educational and social justice contributions. 

Leslie Fisher

Middle Street

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