Remembering the fallen of the RCSD from America’s past wars

Posted by [email protected] | Sep 26, 2015 | Education, History | 0 |

David Kramer with Lt. Colonel Ulises Miranda who runs the ROTC program at the Madison Campus on Genesee Street.

[As seen in the Cyber Quote, this article appeared in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle when I was the Make City Schools Better blogger]

• November 9, 2014

As I crisscross the District, one of my keener pleasures is discovering the rich history within our schools. Among the many historical treasures, perhaps the most powerful are the plaques and memorials honoring RCSD students and graduates who gave their lives in four American wars: World War One, World War Two, Korea and Vietnam.

The WWI plaque from East is particularly poignant as it includes David Hochstein, the violin virtuoso who was killed in the Argonne in October 1918 and for whom the Hochstein School of Music is named.

The marble World War Two memorial at Franklin is perhaps the most impressive.

Although the old Madison on Genesee Street was torn down, the plaques remain.

Two schools, Madison And East, have plaques from the Vietnam War.

At three, East has the most plaques.

Wilson has the only wooden plaque.

I was surprised that several of the older schools do not display plaques: Charlotte, Jefferson and Monroe. If you know of any more plaques please let me know. I did see one deep in the basement at Marshall, but I tried to find it again, construction had started on the campus. So now, the plaque is lost to the ages.

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Charlotte High’s unparalleled and almost lost murals

About The Author

[email protected]

Welcome to Talker of the Town! My name is David Kramer. I have a Ph.D in English and teach at Keuka College. I am a former and still active Fellow at the Nazareth College Center for Public History and a Storyteller in Residence at the SmallMatters Institute. Over the years, I have taught at Monroe Community College, the Rochester Institute of Technology and St. John Fisher College. I have published numerous Guest Essays, Letters, Book Reviews and Opinion pieces in The New York Times, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, the Buffalo News, the Rochester Patriot, the Providence Journal, the Providence Business News, the Brown Alumni Magazine, the New London Day, the Boston Herald, the Messenger Post Newspapers, the Wedge, the Empty Closet, the CITY, Lake Affect Magazine and Brighton Connections. My poetry appears in The Criterion: An International Journal in English and Rundenalia and my academic writing in War, Literature and the Arts and Twentieth Century Literary Criticism. Starting in February 2013, I wrote for three Democratic and Chronicle blogs, "Make City Schools Better," "Unite Rochester," and the "Editorial Board." When my tenure at the D & C ended, I wanted to continue conversations first begun there. And start new ones. So we created this new space, Talker of the Town, where all are invited to join. I don’t like to say these posts are “mine.” Very few of them are the sole product of my sometimes overheated imagination. Instead, I call them partnerships and collaborations. Or as they say in education, “peer group work.” Talker of the Town might better be Talkers of the Town. The blog won’t thrive without your leads, text, pictures, ideas, facebook shares, tweets, comments and criticisms.