Aaron Mossell Junior High made official in Lockport

Benjamin Joe, Niagara Gazette, Niagara Falls, N.Y.
·3 min read

Jun. 12—LOCKPORT — North Park Junior High School will be renamed Aaron Mossell Junior High School as soon as the State Education Department processes the change.

In the meantime, Deborah Coder, assistant superintendent for finance and management services, said the district will move forward in implementing steps to reflect the name change on the buildings and letterhead for official paperwork.

Coder said the goal is to have everything ready by September.

"The Board of Education formally voted to change the name of North Park Junior High on Wednesday night during our meeting," Karen Young, president of the Lockport school board, said. "The board was fully supportive of the name change and are looking forward to honoring and bringing more awareness to Mr. Mossell."

The decision to change the name of the school came after a presentation on June 2 to the school board by the North Park Junior High School Renaming Committee, which met twice in May and then agreed in consensus to recommend the name change. Principal of the newly named Aaron Mossell Junior High School, Bernadette Smith said that once presented with the facts it was hard not to endorse the change.

"When you think about his accomplishments and his contributions as a citizen of Lockport, and it's so intertwined with the schools and such a positive intertwining, it seemed like a very natural fit," Smith said. "This request was presented by over 1,000 signatures on a petition from community members and when we considered it, it was difficult to justify why you would not change the name to Aaron Mossell."

Smith said that while she knew there were people in the community who went to North Park and feel a connection with the name, the desire to honor Mossell was overwhelming.

Vince Davis has been involved with the Mossell name change since 2016 when he and other members of Lift UP Lockport started to educate the community on Mossell's accomplishments, including the donation of bricks to schools, churches and private homes. He was an employer of over 40 individuals, and his brickyard was an integrated workplace. Perhaps most important was his pivotal role in integrating the public schools of Lockport in 1876 and, as Davis put it, his ability to see, "the potential in every individual to achieve."

Davis acknowledge his part in the renaming, but said he was merely a cog in a machine that involved many people who wanted this day to come.

"I wanted to represent the man fairly, I think he deserved representation and my goal was to just give an honest and hopefully heart felt presentation of how we felt about him," Davis said. "I couldn't be happier, because if anyone deserved to have a school named after him, it was certainly that gentleman."

Davis also shared that a playground on South Street was going to be constructed and named after Aaron Mossell as well.

Alderwoman-at-Large Ellen Schratz was also on the renaming committee and expressed joy at the board's decision.

"I'm just really happy. They gave us the feeling they were going to vote for it, but until the actual vote is taken, you don't know what's going to happen," Schratz said. "We have a lot of things to be proud of, and I think we should be very proud of Aaron Mossell for what kind of person he was and what he represents to the city as far as community, kindness and compassion."