It’s time to name the middle school.
Come fall 2016, a new Renton School District middle school will sit within Newcastle city limits. Work is already well underway on the school, located next to Hazelwood Elementary.
The two-story school designed by NAC Architecture was made possible thanks to voter support of an April 2012 bond measure. The $97 million bond measure will fund the school, improvements to the Lindbergh High School pool and other construction costs.
The district’s fourth middle school comes at an important time, given that Renton’s middle schools are among the largest in the state.
“They’re overcrowded to the point where the district isn’t able to deliver the middle school curriculum that we want to, so when this school opens, everything evens out,” Stewart Shusterman, the district’s facilities project manager, told Newcastle News in 2013.
Now, the district is seeking public input to determine the name of the new school. Everyone is encouraged to offer suggestions in a four-question survey offered by the district online at http://svy.mk/1GVGSf2.
District officials outlined the following criteria when choosing a name:
- A nominated name will be widely known to, and significant to, the community.
- The names submitted will not conflict nor cause confusion with the names of other facilities in the district or surrounding districts.
- The use of names of living persons will be avoided unless the circumstances warrant an exception.
- The names of key supporting organizations may be used.
Those wishing to submit naming options should also provide evidence and/or an explanation of why the name is significant and should be considered.
The district will accept name submissions until Nov. 17. After that, a committee will sift through the names over three public meetings and work to provide a final recommendation to the Renton School Board.
Public comment time is built into each committee meeting so community members can directly offer suggestions. All meetings are 6:45-9 p.m.
The committee first meets Nov. 19 at the district office, 300 S.W. Seventh St., Renton. The group will finalize procedures and begin nomination reviews at this time.
The group comes to Newcastle Dec. 15, when committee members will continue nomination reviews and establish a preliminary list of finalists. This meeting will be held at Hazelwood Elementary, 7100 116th Ave. S.E.
The committee’s last meeting will finalize its list of names and adopt a recommendation to present to the Renton School Board. The last meeting is Jan. 19 at the district office.