Plan to rename after Civil War drummer angers some

A battle is brewing over whether to rename an elementary school after a Brooklyn boy who was killed in the Civil War.The Doris L. Cohen School/P.S. 230 is currently named after a longtime education advocate

News 12 Staff

Apr 17, 2008, 10:45 PM

Updated 6,014 days ago

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A battle is brewing over whether to rename an elementary school after a Brooklyn boy who was killed in the Civil War.The Doris L. Cohen School/P.S. 230 is currently named after a longtime education advocate who served on the local school board for 25 years, fought to increase funding and helped establish gifted and pre-K programs.
The PTA president says Cohen's relatives don't have ties to the school. In fact, Cohen's picture no longer hangs at the school; she died in 1976.
Officials want to rename the school, but they're not looking to the present for inspiration. Clarence McKenzie, 12, was a drummer boy and the first Brooklyn resident to die in Civil War battle. He was killed by friendly fire. A monument of McKenzie stands at nearby Green-Wood Cemetery.
The Cohen family is infuriated by the plan to oust her name.
Many parents told News 12 Brooklyn they had no idea about the controversy.