UPPER MORELAND SCHOOLS
Why spend money on new signs, redesigning letterhead and making other changes that come with a new identity, one parent asked.
According to the notice on the Upper Moreland School District's website, "You asked! We listened! Now it is your opportunity to rename the intermediate and primary schools!"
Some parents say they don't remember asking.
Two home and school association leaders said this week they oppose the district's plan to rename the Upper Moreland Primary School and Upper Moreland Intermediate School, arguing the change is unnecessary and they'd rather see resources address more pressing concerns than new signs and stationery.
A name-your-school contest was launched this summer to gather ideas for friendlier, more personal names for the schools, said Don Warner, a school board member who chairs the district facilities committee.
Discussions on the idea have been going on for months at school board meetings. But Warner said few members of the public attended those meetings and, until a few days ago, he hadn't heard any objections to renaming the buildings.
The contest was announced through Upper Moreland's e-communicator system after school ended. Suggestions for new names are being accepted through the end of September, but Warner said he would be fine with scrapping the whole idea if enough people object to it at an upcoming facilities committee meeting.
Changing names means spending money to put up new signs, redesign letterhead and make all the other changes that come with a new identity, said Stacey Liesner, president of the intermediate school's parent association.
"What are we doing spending money on that?" she asked.
Lisa Burman, immediate past vice president of the primary school's parent association, had a similar take. Funds would be better spent elsewhere, she said. She suggested the money would be better used for playground equipment the home and school association is on the hook to replace because the district won't cover it.
"It's ridiculous," she said. "The name has been fine for five years now."
The contest comes five years after the district closed two elementary schools - Round Meadow and Cold Spring - and shifted to a primary/intermediate school model housed in a complex on Orangemans Road.
Third- through fifth-graders moved into the intermediate school in fall 2004; students in kindergarten through second grade were moved to Cold Spring Elementary until the new primary school opened in 2005.
The district facilities committee will discuss the issue and listen to feedback at its Aug. 17 meeting, scheduled for 6:45 p.m. at the intermediate school.
July 29, 2010 02:13 AM
