What's in a name? For many schools, something simplistic is the best route

Most area school leaders are taking the generic route when naming new school buildings.
By RON COLE
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
Superintendent Jim Ciccolelli heard lots of suggestions on what to name Campbell's new elementary and junior high school.
"Summit," because it sits atop a rise along State Route 616.
"Sunrise," because it faces due east and the rising sun.
"Campbell Community School," because of the community's support to construct the facility.
In the end, Ciccolelli and a 20-member committee formed to name the school went the generic route: Campbell Elementary/Middle School.
"The committee just felt that was the best and most simple way to identify the school," Ciccolelli said about the building that opens at the start of next school year.
It's not an issue that Campbell and other Mahoning Valley school districts have had to face much over the past several decades: naming schools.
Several building programs
Today, however, with nearly a dozen school districts throughout the region in the midst of major building programs, school leaders are starting to think about how they'll go about attaching names to the new facilities.
"It can be a very sensitive issue," said Richard Buchenic, Lowellville superintendent.
Nationally, there has been a surge in patriotic school names like Eagle's Pride, Peace, America and even World Trade Center, according to Education Week newspaper.
Lima schools in northwestern Ohio recently decided to name five new elementary schools Freedom, Unity, Heritage, Liberty and Independence.
Here in the Valley
But locally, most schools leaders appear to be taking a more conservative, less colorful approach.
In Struthers, for instance, the new elementary school will be called, simply, Struthers Elementary School.
Lowellville's new school, which will house all pupils in kindergarten through 12th grade under one roof, is tentatively named Lowellville K-12 Campus.
Rick Savors is spokesman for the Ohio School Facilities Commission, a state agency that is funding large parts of many of the local building projects. He said naming decisions are left to local school boards.
"We think they should all be named after [Gov.] Bob Taft," he joked.
In the Mahoning Valley, schools generally carry the name of the district in which they're located (Howland High School, Jackson-Milton Elementary School, etc.), the street on which they're located (Market Street Elementary School in Boardman, Prospect Elementary School in Salem, etc.) or U.S. presidents, including Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Taft, Harding, McKinley, Garfield, Hayes, Wilson, Cleveland, Jackson and Kennedy.
Several local schools also are named after local historical figures like Volney Rogers Junior High School in Youngstown for the founder of Mill Creek Park, or after former superintendents and principals.
A risky job
But school leaders say naming a building after a local resident can be risky.
"I think you need to have done something really great to have something named after you," said Buchenic, of Lowellville.
"There were so many people involved in this project that made it a reality because of their hard work and time and effort that it would've been very difficult to name it for someone," said Dr. Sandra DiBacco, Struthers superintendent.
"Now if somebody has several million dollars that they want to give, I'll be happy to call [the new school] whatever they want as long as it's not foul or vulgar," she added.
Selling a school's naming rights, much like universities do for campus buildings or cities do for professional sports stadiums, is something Youngstown schools may consider, said Tony DeNiro, the district's director of administrative services.
"It's an excellent idea," he said, noting that the school board, however, has not formally discussed such an approach.
"We've all talked about prominent people in the area we could name something after."
Patrick Guliano, Niles superintendent, said he's not a big fan of selling a school's name to the highest bidder.
"I know this is a different era and a different age, but it just doesn't sit real well with me," he said. Niles is constructing a new middle school.
Pushed for generic
Columbiana opened its new high school two years ago under the generic name "Columbiana High School" despite a push by some residents to name the building in honor of native son Harvey S. Firestone, founder of Firestone Tire and Rubber Co.
A survey showed an overwhelming number of residents, parents and students wanted to keep the generic name.
The school district did, however, set up a system in which people could put their names on various parts of the building for a fee of $1 per square foot per year, said Lori Posey, school treasurer.
The R.A. Carletti family, for instance, paid $8,000 for a 10-year hold on the naming of the high school's front lobby. The Elmer H. Detwiler family paid $10,000 for the naming rights to the west vestibule leading to the varsity gym.
In all, the effort has generated $30,000 for the district's permanent improvement fund, Posey said.
"We were hoping to get more than that," she said.
Liberty schools officials tried the same approach when the new Liberty High School opened in 1999, and the results were even less than in Columbiana. Only the Cafaro Corp. has signed up, paying $1,950 a year for the school's new fitness center, Superintendent Larry Prince said.
Prince said he was hoping to get more. "But we're ahead even with only one," he added.
Aiming for naming rights
Scott Ebright, spokesman for the Ohio School Boards Association, said he thinks more and more schools may sell naming rights to make up for tight local and state budgets.
"As schools are looking to be creative to find ways to generate income without going to the voters, they're willing to sell things like that," he said.
Youngstown school system faces the most challenges in the name game. The district will construct six new schools over the next six years as part of a $182.5 million building project.
Superintendent Ben McGee said no final decisions have been made on naming any of the new schools and no process has been put into place to do so.
"There really hasn't been a lot of thought given to that," he said.
New schools replacing Taft, Harding and Williamson elementary schools are likely to retain those names, he said.
Up for grabs?
The names for the three other new buildings -- a new high school on the East Side, a new middle school on the East Side and a new building to replace West Elementary School -- may be up for grabs.
McGee said there has been some discussion about the Rayen name. The Rayen School, one of the district's three high schools, will change to a middle school. The school could become The Rayen Middle School, or the new high school could possibly take the Rayen name, he said.
McGee and other school officials already have received a letter from Alan DePetro, a Youngstown native and 1952 graduate of the former East High School, proposing that the new high school be named after the Warner brothers, Youngstown natives and movie pioneers.