The Poughkeepsie City School District Board of Education’s Ad-Hoc Committee Building Names Study Group will recommend three elementary school buildings – the Samuel F.B. Morse, Gov. George Clinton and Christopher Columbus schools – should be renamed.

The committee is now seeking community input on what the new names should be. Take this survey to share your thoughts on who, or what, each building should be named after. The committee intends to recommend the new names when it presents its conclusions to the full board at its Feb. 5 meeting.

Morse, Clinton and Columbus were each found to be historical figures who had little to no connection to the City of Poughkeepsie, made no direct contribution to city schools and either owned slaves or supported slavery, placing them “out of alignment with our most important community values today,” according to committee co-Chairpersons Fatimah Carmen Martinez Santiago and Dr. Andrew Rieser.

Conversely, the committee’s research found George W. Krieger, W.W. Smith and Charles B. Warring “made direct, positive and significant contributions to education in the City of Poughkeepsie,” the co-chairs said.

The findings come following an extensive process that began last school year and included several outreach efforts, including a previous community survey. Committee members also operated tables at many school events. In October, the committee held a town hall event in which residents could voice opinions on the process and names.

“During our town hall, there was some pushback of, why are you changing, for example, Krieger? And there were testimonies of what Krieger did,” Martinez Santiago said. “With Clinton, Columbus and Morse, it was clear we should replace those.”

The current survey asking for suggested names is open through Friday, Jan. 24.

Martinez Santiago said she is hoping to receive feedback not only from around the school community but from students themselves. Building principals are working with the committee to facilitate students learning more about the process to give their opinions and learn more about the history surrounding different options.

She also said she is meeting with representatives from the Lenape Munsee Native American tribe.

“This was their ancestral land,” Martinez Santiago said. “There was a lot of appetite in the committee to make sure we acknowledge our native ancestral groups.”

The new name for the Columbus building, which was formerly a school and is currently used as the administration building, could be inspired by that sentiment, she said. “There will be a historical lesson for the students to go with that,” she said. “We want to incorporate that with all the names.”

The board, if it chooses to rename any buildings at the February meeting, would have until March 1 to submit the required paperwork to the New York State Education Department for the new names to take effect next school year.