There are two ways community members can get involved in naming Santa Maria-Bonita School District’s new school: They can submit a possible name or they can volunteer to serve on the committee evaluating those submissions.
District spokesperson Maggie White said the district has already received several submissions from community members, including names of well-known educators and Santa Maria figures, as well as some unexpected surprises.
While she couldn’t get into specifics, she said: “There’s going to be a huge variety.”
Naming the new school is tied to the district’s need to get the boundaries drawn in time for the 2015-2016 school year, but the process for picking boundaries is on a tighter timeline then the naming process for the yet-to-be-named elementary campus. White said the district wants to have a handle on what the boundaries will be for the school by the beginning of March and are expecting to get the name picked by mid-April.
Both of the issues were discussed at the school board’s last meeting in January and will be ongoing agendized discussions until a final decision is made. One of the reasons the boundary dilemma needs to be wrapped up so quickly is because of kindergarten registration, parent notification, and staffing purposes. There will be a study session on the matter at a special meeting on Feb. 18, and the final decision is expected to be made at a special meeting on March 4.
“We wanted to give the community and parents enough time to weigh in,” White said. “It’s a tight timeline, but it’s doable.”
The district recently sent out the last batch of letters to the addresses of families that are located in the potential boundary change areas and has received some negative comments from parents about the proposed changes, but White said the comments have more to do with change than anything the district is doing wrong.
“We’ve heard comments from parents saying we don’t want to change schools, we love our school. … That’s to be expected. We know that’s going to happen with any boundary change,” she said. “But boundary changes have to occur, because that school has to be populated.”
Although the school isn’t move-in ready for its future student population yet, it’s getting close and is on track to open in August 2015. White said work on the outside of the school is pretty much done, and construction crews are putting the finishing touches on the inside of the buildings.
The deadline to submit a school name for consideration is Feb. 17, and the deadline to apply to serve on the naming committee is Feb. 12. Under district guidelines, suitable school name submissions can be: names of recognized historical or geological landmarks; names that reflect the community’s character culturally and historically, or that identify it by referencing indigenous flora and fauna; names of distinguished individuals; or family names of historic significance. Names of streets or commercial developments are not allowed.
Forms to submit a potential name or apply to become a committee member can be found at smbsd.org. They can also be picked up at the district office, 708 S. Miller Street, and should be submitted by the deadlines to Paula Elkins via fax, 928-7874; email, PElikins@smbsd.net; mail, 708 S. Miller St., Santa Maria, CA 93454; or through the district website.
This article appears in Feb 5-12, 2015.