| Chapter 7: | The Schools |
Franklin High School, I came under the influence of Dr. Leonard Covello, the principal of both schools. Covello was born in Avigliano, Italy in 1887. In 1890 Covello’s father emigrated to East Harlem, where his wife and children joined him in 1896. Leonard Covello was influenced by Protestant social activists, Anna C. Ruddy and Norman Thomas, whose Presbyterian church on One Hundred and Sixth Street he attended. He studied at DeWitt Clinton High School and Columbia University. In 1944 he completed his doctoral dissertation at NYU. In 1911 he took a position as a teacher of French and Spanish at DeWitt Clinton High. He participated in numerous Italian cultural organizations. Covello campaigned for years to establish a high school in East Harlem. It became a reality in 1934 after winning the political support of Congressman Vito Marcantonio and Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. James Otis Junior High and Franklin High were all boys schools. Led by Leonard Covello and Mario Cosenza, the Italian Teachers Association of New York City in 1922 campaigned successfully to have the Board of Education place Italian on a parity with the other foreign languages taught in the high schools. In 1938, 567 students in Benjamin Franklin High School alone were taking Italian. Francesca DiMaria taught me Italian at Otis; Dina DiPino taught me Italian at Benjamin Franklin. Dr. Covello believed that Benjamin Franklin High as a community-centered school “cannot only present to the immigrant the best in American culture and traditions, but also imbue him with the worth of his own culture.” Learning Italian culture and the Italian language were vital to the success of students and their parents. This