Naming the fourth high school of the Olentangy Local School District will not be a contentious issue, according to school board member Julie Wagner Feasel.
“It’s the mascot,” she said. “Because it has to rhyme.”
The school district adopted a naming policy in 2012. The school board decides the name of its school buildings and other district facilities. Schools will have names based on local history or geography without directional names (north, south, east and west). Mascot names are based on local historical figures or animals with no proper names.
District residents are encouraged to submit names of the new high school on Berlin Station Road east of Gregory Road through a link on the school website at www.olentangy.k12.oh.us/Olentangy through Sept. 16, according to Krista Davis, the school communications director.
“We of course accept feedback in any form,” she said.
She will present survey results to the board later this year and when the board make its decision.
Additionally, Davis and Randy Wright, the district’s chief of administrative services, provided the board a redistricting update. By law, the school’s final redistricting decision will be made by Superintendent Mark T. Raiff.
All attendance boundary lines are in consideration, Wright said.
He and Davis announced that an Attendance Boundaries Committee will be formed, accepting applications from residents in the school district. Davis said it’s goal is to have 50 members in the committee with two people representing one of the district’s schools. Interested residents can apply through the school’s website.
The committee will meet monthly starting October through March. The first meeting is 7 p.m. Oct. 4.
The community can also get involved in the process through community forums scheduled in January and February and periodic surveys.
In other business, the school board approved $28,399,312 to Gilbane Building Co., the construction manager of high school No. 4, as the project’s guaranteed maximum price for a total cost of $50,500,800.
