University School – African American Alumni Honor Former Upper School Director
By Miesha Headen, DFER Ohio State Director
Geoff Morton, former Director of the Upper School, is being honored during the 6th Annual African American University School Alumni & Parents Reception for his tireless efforts to recruit black students, mentor them, and oversee their matriculation into top-tier colleges.
As battles over “school choice” rage in the Ohio Statehouse, it is both delightful and timely that Morton is being honored. This serves to underscore that cooperative and congenial relationships between public and private schools have always existed for the benefit of children.
Recruiting promising black students to University School beginning in the 1960’s, Geoff Morton built relationships with school leaders throughout the eastside of Cleveland. Morton once asked a guidance counselor, named Dorothea Brown, at Charles Elliot Middle School if she would get in trouble for referring students. She said, “I don’t work for Cleveland. I work for the children.”
Many of the black boys came from “enrichment” and “major works” schools in the Cleveland district. Dr. Charles Jordan created these selective schools with the intention of creating future black leaders. Kay Karr, an enrichment teacher at Miles Standish Elementary School in Glenville says, “We wanted to teach them leadership – beyond the three R’s. We were proud of our students.”
As Morton admits, some of the boys were “supermen” bound to succeed. Others came from troubled homes. Morton recalls one boy referred by a coach in East Cleveland. His house was falling down and he had no bed. This young man lived with Morton during the school week. He is now a surgeon in Florida living in a gated community. Morton says, “I get a kick out of visiting him every year.”
Morton is humble about his contributions: “It’s not so much what the school did for the kids. It’s what they did for us. We benefitted.” Nonetheless, the story of the initial integration of University School is a testament to the power of collaboration between greater school leaders in both district and private schools when guided by the vision of doing what is best for individual students.
Miesha Headen graduated from Columbia University and holds a Masters of Management from Ursuline College. She has served on the Richmond Heights Charter Review Committee and the Richmond Heights Local School District Leadership Team.
She is a Councilwoman for the City of Richmond Heights. She joined the DFER team as Ohio State Director in 2010. Read more about Miesha here.