Harriet Tubman Elementary School is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

, named after

Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, – March 10, 1913) was an American abolitionist and social activist. After escaping slavery, Tubman made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, including her family and friends, us ...

, an

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the political movement to end slavery and liberate enslaved individuals around the world. The first country to fully outlaw slavery was Kingdom of France, France in 1315, but it was later used ...

humanitarian Humanitarianism is an ideology centered on the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotiona ...

, and Union spy during the

U.S. Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), which was formed in 1861 by states that had seceded fr ...

. It is located in

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

and is under the jurisdiction of the

District of Columbia Public Schools The District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) is the local public school system for Washington, D.C. It is distinct from the District of Columbia Public Charter Schools (DCPCS), which governs public charter schools in the city. Compositi ...

. Over five hundred students are currently enrolled from

pre-school A preschool (sometimes spelled as pre school or pre-school), also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, play school, is an educational establishment or learning space Learning space or learning setting refers to a physical s ...

fifth grade Fifth grade (also 5th Grade or Grade 5) is the fifth or sixth year of formal or compulsory education. In the United States, this is mostly the last grade of primary school, but for some states, it could be the first year of middle school. Primary ...

History

Harriet Tubman Elementary School was built in 1970, shortly after the

1968 Washington, D.C. riots Following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., a leading African-American civil rights activist, on April 4, 1968, Washington, D.C., experienced a four-day period of violent civil unrest and rioting. Part of the broader riots t ...

which ravaged its neighborhood of Columbia Heights.

Programs and students

The school has regular graffiti cleaning, students have received free dental care, and D.C. Discovery Days give them field trips out of the neighborhood. Nevertheless, in 2007 a student from Tubman joined others in voicing concern over safety in the public school district. 85% of the student body qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.

Awards and recognition

First Lady Michelle Obama and Students from Harriet Tubman Elementary School

Former principal Sadia M. White won a National Distinguished Principals award in 2004 for her work at Tubman. According to National Association of Elementary School Principals, under White, Tubman Elementary met all its goals for standardized test scores and White supervised the launch of an

inclusion Inclusion or Include may refer to: Sociology * Social inclusion, action taken to support people of different backgrounds sharing life together. ** Inclusion (disability rights), promotion of people with disabilities sharing various aspects of lif ...

-teaching model featuring team-teaching by general education,

special education Special education (also known as special-needs education, aided education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, and SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates their individual di ...

teachers, and teachers of new English-language learners. The association also commended her institution of a comprehensive school-wide positive-approach discipline program that included a

due process Due process of law is application by the state of all legal rules and principles pertaining to a case so all legal rights that are owed to a person are respected. Due process balances the power of law of the land and protects the individual p ...

system for punishment referrals and intervention strategies for classroom teachers for preventing problems. On November 27, 2001, First Lady

Laura Bush Laura Lane Welch Bush (née Welch; born November 4, 1946) is an American educator who was the first lady of the United States from 2001 to 2009 as the wife of George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States. Bush was previously the fir ...

hosted Tubman Elementary students at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

for a screening of the film, ''

Twice Upon a Christmas ''Twice Upon a Christmas'' is a 2001 film directed by Tibor Takács. A sequel to the 2000 PAX television film, '' Once Upon a Christmas'', it stars most of the original cast from the first film. The filming location was in Vancouver, British ...

''. In 2005, Cory Chimka, fourth grade teacher at Harriet Tubman, was named National Kind Teacher of the Year by the National Association for Humane & Environmental Education.

Notes

External links

School website
{{DC Schools District of Columbia Public Schools Harriet Tubman Public elementary schools in Washington, D.C. Educational institutions established in 1970

History

Programs and students

Awards and recognition

Notes

Further reading

External links