Seven Providence city councilors want to add Roosevelt Benton's name to Mary E. Fogarty Elementary School. A resolution before the Committee on Urban Redevelopment, Renewal and Planning on Tuesday, Nov. 10, would rename it "Mary E. Fogarty Elementary School at the Roosevelt Benton Complex." The committee, chaired by Councilwoman Mary Kay Harris, meets at 5:30 p.m. in Committee "A" on the third floor of City Hall, 25 Dorrance St.
What the resolution says
The text says the council "wishes to jointly honor Mary E. Fogarty and Roosevelt Benton for their respective contributions to the education and welfare of the children of Providence." The new name keeps Fogarty's. The sponsors are Harris, Council President Rachel M. Miller, Councilor Jill S. Davidson, Majority Leader Pedro J. Espinal, Senior Deputy Majority Leader John Goncalves, Councilwoman Shelley T. Peterson and Councilman Oscar Vargas. The resolution was on the council's Nov. 5 agenda under presentation of resolutions; the posted record shows no council action on it.
The committee packet describes Benton as a lifelong Providence resident, a Central High School graduate and a Roger Williams University alumnus. According to the resolution, he was the first African American to serve as an assistant to a Providence mayor, under Joseph Doorley, after Marine Corps service in the Vietnam War. It says he was deputy superintendent of the Rhode Island Training School for 15 years, served 18 years on the Providence School Board and was executive director of the South Providence Boys and Girls Club for 16 years.
Benton died on Jan. 22, 2005, a day after his induction into the city's Martin Luther King, Jr. Hall of Fame, the resolution says. It says he left a legacy in South Providence and "fostered a generation of community leaders."
What it leaves out
The resolution does not say what the "Roosevelt Benton Complex" is, and it gives no biographical detail about Mary E. Fogarty. It states that the school "is hereby renamed" but describes no approval step by the School Board or the school district. If it passes, copies go to the mayor, the Providence Public School District superintendent, the School Board and Benton's family. Whether a council resolution alone can change a school's name is not answered in the documents, and no response from the district is in the record.
The committee agenda has three other items: a ceremonial renaming of part of Fisk Street for Roberto Gonzalez, a former School Committee member; a Ward 11 Participatory Budgeting Steering Committee that would work on about $6.6 million in remaining bond money for the Trinity Square area and aim to finish by the end of February 2027; and a ceremonial renaming of part of Elmgrove Avenue for Bob and Anne Rothenberg, which is to be continued indefinitely.
