Opposition might change proposed Alpine school
name
By Jo Moreland
The Alpine Sun
A key voter in the proposed naming of the
new high school in the Alpine and Blossom Valley area now says
he wants public input before a final ballot.
Board member Dr. Gary Woods voted with the 3-2 majority
on March 11 at the Grossmont Union High School District Board
meeting to name the school in Alpine after former President
Ronald Reagan.
However, public opposition to naming the school after a
political figure and a petition favoring a geographical name
instead may affect a scheduled confirmation vote on April 15.
“At this point we’re reconsidering the motion,” Woods
said in a March 29 phone interview. “What we’re concerned about
is having skipped a step about having appointed a committee (to
make name recommendations). We’re trying to get public comment
on this thing before we go any further.”
He said he “really needs to hear from the Alpine community
first.”
The board’s vote to name the district’s 12th school
without getting public input drew a quick response from many
Alpine area residents, including Leona Bennett, a 38-year Alpine
resident who has two grandsons who will go to the school.
Despite voting twice for Reagan, Bennett has started
the petition drive.
“I really feel like with every other high school in the area the
community got to choose (the school’s name),” said Bennett.
“What really bothered me is that they set the choice aside and
chose a political route.”
Copies of Bennett’s petition are available at the
Alpine Mountain Empire Chamber of Commerce office at 2707 Alpine
Blvd. in Alpine.
Another long-time Alpine resident, William Corson, came
into the Chamber’s office for the sole purpose of signing the
petition.
“My main concern is that (the name) should be more
symbolic of the area the school’s in rather than a political
figure,” said Corson. “Just about every other school in the area
is named after a place that is identifiable.”
Policy involved
The petition notes that the board ignored its own
Policy 7310, which calls for naming new high schools
geographically unless the board deems a special exception. The
policy also allows for public input.
Woods voted with board president Robert Shield
and member James Kelly in favor of naming the new facility
Ronald Reagan High School. Vice President Dick Hoy and Clerk
Priscilla Schreiber voted no.
“I love Ronald Reagan. I think it would be great to
honor him, but that’s not our decision,” Schreiber said. “That’s
the decision of the community. After all the hard work the
community has done for this school, I don’t want to impose a
name for political purposes.”
She said she is hoping the board president and
the district superintendent, Robert Collins, are working with
Kelly --- who proposed the name ---- to form a community
committee to get name recommendations for the school rather than
continue with a final vote.
Anyone can attend the confirmation hearing on the name.
It has been scheduled for 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 15, at the
East County Career and Regional Education Center at 924 E. Main
St. in El Cajon.
Poll under way
In addition to Bennett’s petition, the Alpine High
School Citizens Committee is conducting an opinion survey about
naming the school. The poll is on the committee’s website at
www.ahscc.com.
Bennett said the petition drive had been going well with almost
200 signatures in the first two days alone.
The reaction from most people is that the Alpine
area should choose the name and that it should be geographical,
she said.
“And that’s across political lines,” said
Bennett. “They’re not anti-Reagan. What they generally feel is
that if the board makeup changes by two people the school could
be named something like Jimmy Carter High School.”
Bennett, who is co-chairing the Name Our New High
School in Alpine Committee with Republican Joan Cunningham of
the Alpine Community Center Board, noted that the community had
to pass two major bonds over a decade to get enough money for
the new high school.
“All I’m trying to do is tell them (district
board) that we should have in Alpine the same right to choose a
geographical, non-political name per the board policy,” Bennett
said. “Keep politics out of it and let us name our school.”
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