Centennial to Announce Names of New Elementary Schools

The days of calling Centennial's three new elementary schools by their geographic region may soon be coming to an end.

According to the agenda for tonight's school board meeting, the board is expected to announce the names of the district's three regional elementary schools.

Initially, the district had commissioned a panel, consisting of students, parents, teachers and other members of the community, to develop what they thought were going to be the names for the three regional elementary schools.

Led by Centennial's Director of Elementary Education, Dr. Donna Dunar, spent several hours researching, discussing and ultimately gathering signatures from the general public in support of the names they developed.

However, following a student-led presentation of the School Names Committee's leading choices in the race to name the new schools back in early February, members of the school board made it known in no uncertain terms that it was  the board's decision as to what the district's three new schools would ultimately be called.

At the February 9 Operations Committee Meeting, Board Member Betty Huf said the naming committee was formed without the knowledge of the board. 

Huf said while she was excited to see everyone who was involved with the process, as per school district policy, ultimately the naming of schools would be a decision to be made by the board.

However, she said the groups of names the committee suggested would be forwarded to the board for consideration as recommendation.

"You all did a great job," said Huf. "But the decision comes back before the whole board."

Likewise, Operations Committee Chair Kati Driban thanked the members of the committee for their hard work, but said it was regrettable that the thoughts of the board were not reflected in the process.

Driban read an open letter to the members of the committee and to the public to express her concerns. Read the letter in the PDF section of this article.

Several members of the committee expressed displeasure upon hearing the news that the names they had worked hard to developed would not be used for the new schools.

"It's just not fair," said School Names Committee Member Karen Rutkowsky. " I wouldn't have spend over ten hours volunteering for a committee if I knew it wasn't sanctioned."

She said it was a shame because the names the children had come up with were pretty impressive.

Here are some of the names suggested by the committee:

• Liberty, Independence and Justice
• Pioneer, Craven and Nobel
• Eastern Hemlock, Mountain Laurel and Ruffled Grouse
• Perseverance, Gemini and York
• Willow Dale, McDonald and Davis

See what the board decides this evening at 7 p.m. in the board room of the Johnsville Administration Building, 433 Centennial Road, Warminster.

The meetings can also be viewed live on the dictrict's cable access channel or over the Internet via a stream on the district's website.