Names reflect site and students who attend each
It’s official! We’re changing our school building names and adjusting our district name. On Monday, the school board voted unanimously to approve the recommendations of the Super Transition Team. We are now the Staples-Motley School District with three building sites: Staples-Motley Elementary, Motley-Staples Middle School, and Staples-Motley High School.
It might not seem like big changes to those outside our school district. I know, however, these changes are important to us as a community and the naming process will make our district stronger as we move forward.
I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the parents, community members, staff and students who are serving on each school site’s Transition Team. As we have been discussing over the past couple of months, the main purpose for each Transition Team is to help us plan ways to make sure all students and their families feel welcome as we move forward. The Team ensures plans and activities that take place as part of the Re-Start are communicated to all students, but especially those moving to a new school.
The Transition Teams were also tasked with making recommendations for school site names to the Super Transition Team. The Transition Teams did a great job of talking with community members about this process and giving everyone an opportunity to take part.
The Super Transition Team met on Thursday, May 11, in the District Office. I wish I could fully communicate what a great conversation it was. It was rewarding to hear the dialogue so focused on bringing our district community together.
As a result, the team recommended the elementary site be named Staples Motley Elementary. “Staples” indicates where the school is located and “Motley” says that Motley students attend that site too. The middle school site will be named Motley Staples Middle School. Again, Motley says where the school is located and that Staples students attend that site too. The high school name will stay the same, Staples Motley High School.
In addition, the high school Transition Team asked the Super Transition Team to finally address the incorrect grammar in the name of our school district and school site names. It was recommended to add the hyphen between the towns in each name. This request was approved by the school board. Our district’s English teachers will be very pleased!
The completion of the renaming process is one more step toward our 2021 vision to be “a community united to become the region’s school district of choice.” It’s a great time to be a Cardinal!
