Effort to name M-A football field may trigger new naming policy in high school district Effort to name M-A football field may trigger new naming policy in high school district (June 09, 2004)

By David Boyce
Almanac Staff Writer

The right to name a building or other facility at local public high schools may become a school site committee decision rather than one for the Board of Trustees of the Sequoia Union High School District.

That the board may wash its hands of facility naming rights appears to depart from past board discussions in which trustees seemed to reject naming proposals on the grounds that a person is better remembered with words on a plaque.

The issue may have come to a head last week after the trustees let die a discussion of a proposal by Menlo-Atherton High School Principal Eric Hartwig to name the school's new football field after Ben Parks, the popular longtime football and wrestling coach, community activist and student role model who retired in 1999 after a 31-year career at M-A.

"I think that the schools can come up with a way and it would be much more local," said board president Don Gibson said in an interview. "We've got so many new facilities and everybody wants to name buildings after somebody," he said, adding that the board has nothing against Coach Parks.

District campuses have seen much new construction since voters approved school bond measures for $45 million and $88 million in 1996 and 2001, respectively. At Woodside High School, new facilities either completed or under construction include new classrooms, a new gymnasium and a performing arts center. At M-A, a new gym and library were built recently, and a performing arts center is planned.

Each naming proposal typically involves discussion, testimonials, a committee report, more discussion and testimonials, and finally a vote, Mr. Gibson said. With a regular agenda that includes decisions on curriculums, new classes, budgets, district goals and reports, "It takes a lot of the board's time," he said.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.