The Anderson School - School Names

School Names

The Anderson School (PS 334) inherited its name from its former parent school, the Sarah Anderson School, a K-5 neighborhood catchment school that offers two programs: Renaissance and Gifted and Talented. Until PS 334 moved to 100 West 77th Street in July 2009, both schools shared a building at 100 West 84th Street. Sarah Anderson (b. 7-31-1922 Birmingham, AL - d. 2-2-1981 Griffin, GA) was a beloved school paraprofessional. The school community successfully petitioned the Board of Education to rename PS 9 in her honor. It became official during a her memorial dedication in May 1981. Never married, she was the mother of three: Clarence "Pete" Anderson (1938 and living in East New York, Brooklyn), Ronald ("Ronnie") Dean Anderson (b. 1939 Griffin GA – 2001 Griffin), and Thomas Anderson. Sarah Anderson is buried at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church Cemetery, Griffin, GA. Her nickname, for those close to her, was "Peggy." Her daughter-in-law (Clarence's wife), Earnestine Anderson, also worked with Sarah as a paraprofessional at PS 9. Earnestine resides in Griffin.

In 1993, under Principal Joan Gutkin, PhD (1936–1997), PS 9 (then the host school for The Anderson Program) received magnet school funding for music and art and henceforth adopted the name, "Renaissance School of Music and Art." Upon the departure of Dr. Gutkin, and with the ebb and flow of funding for the arts, PS 9 uses both names, interchangeably.