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Durham School Board Unanimously Agrees To Name New School After Two Trailblazers

Phyllis Coley @phyllis_coley

DURHAM, NC – The Durham Public Schools Board of Education has voted unanimously to name the newest DPS elementary school under construction Murray-Massenburg Elementary School after two trailblazers: attorney, human rights activist, and Hillside High School alumnus Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray, and the first African-American female principal in the Durham City School System, Betty Doretha Massenburg.

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Murray

Dr. Murray, the first Black person to earn a Juris Doctorate from Yale Law School, was a legal scholar, author, feminist, poet, Episcopal priest, labor organizer, and multiracial Black, LBGBTQ+ community member. Their legal arguments and interpretation of the U.S. Constitution were winning strategies for public school desegregation, women’s rights in the workplace, and an extension of rights to LGBTQ+ people based on Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

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Massenburg

Mrs. Massenburg was the first Black female principal in Durham, leading Holloway Street Elementary in 1975. Her passion and commitment to teaching Durham students inspired not only the children but also the community. She was a proud career educator, business owner, motivational speaker, poet, author, and community servant leader. Prior to being promoted to principal, she also taught at Crest Street and Fayetteville Street elementary schools; and served as dean of girls and assistant principal at Rogers-Herr Middle School.

Durham Public Schools will soon break ground for the new elementary school in South Durham. The school will be located near the intersection of S. Roxboro Road and Martin Luther King, Jr. Parkway, and is slated to open in August 2023. Construction is anticipated to begin in the Summer of 2022.

Durham Public Schools

The Durham Public School (DPS) district is one of the top 10 largest in the state, serving more than 32,000 students in both the city and county of Durham. Durham’s public schools are nearly as diverse as the 300,000+ Durham residents. Durham Public Schools offers traditional schools, magnet programs, year-round calendar schools, and small specialty high schools. DPS is one of the top 30 districts in the nation for employing National Board Certified Teachers, and three DPS high schools are on the US News & World Report’s Best High Schools list for 2018 (City Of Medicine Academy, Clement Early College High School, and Durham School of the Arts).

DPS’ school nutrition program leads the state in providing healthy, “farm to school” meal choices, and every single one of DPS students can eat breakfast at school for free. DPS has robust AIG (academically and intellectually gifted) specialties, skilled exceptional children programs, and even a partnership with Duke Children’s Hospital to allow chronically ill and hospitalized children from across the nation to remain in school. Durham Public Schools accepts all children with compassion and a commitment to meet each child wherever he or she is along the learning spectrum, and grow together from there.