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School board names two new schools
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Published: May 12, 2009
Updated: 05/12/2009 05:54 pm
CONCORD - Cabarrus County Board of Education does not yet know if the Northwest area middle school and the lower Rocky River elementary school will be starting construction soon or be delayed, but names for the schools have been determined.
Their names are Harold E. Winkler Middle School and Patriots Elementary School.
The board voted on the names at its business meeting Monday night after also considering Weddington Hills Middle School and Riverbend Elementary School.
Cabarrus County commissioners are still deciding whether to continue with plans to build these schools and two other schools for openings by fall 2010 and raise the property taxes over the next three years or to delay their construction.
The board of education was split in its decisions about the school names on Monday night. The votes for both names were 4 vote in favor and 3 against.
Board vice chair Wayne Williams said the middle school should be named after former superintendent Winkler for his significant contributions to the school system.
While several board members agreed, there were other reasons for their not wanting the middle school to be named after Winkler.
Board member Andrea Palo said there should be consistency after what the Harrisburg residents were told when the board named Hickory Ridge Middle School last year.
The board named it that because it is adjacent to Hickory Ridge High School, and the Northwest area middle school is beside Weddington Hills Elementary School. While Palo said she was a fan of Winkler's, she thought Weddington Hills Middle School would be consistent.
This rule has been used for high schools and middle schools and not elementary and middle schools, Williams said.
"If we did that, then (Charles E.) Boger (Elementary) would be Northwest Elementary School," Williams said.
Board member Carolyn Carpenter said she had a problem naming schools after people still alive and that many school boards have a policy against it. She supported naming it Weddington Hills Middle School.
"When you say Weddington Hills, that's a direction and people know where it is," Carpenter said.
There was less discussion about the naming of the elementary school.
Williams had suggested Patriots Elementary School after a group of young men, called The Cabarrus Black Boys, who camouflaged their faces with soot and blew up wagons with English supplies in 1771.
It was one of the first strikes against the Crown, said Michael Eury, executive director for Historic Cabarrus Association. The elementary school's location is near the area where the young men lived.
Next week, the county commissioners plan to hold a public hearing about the financial options for construction of the four schools.
• Contact reporter Jessica Groover: 704-789-9152
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