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RATIONALE/OBJECTIVE:
The Cobb County School District (District)
recognizes that the official names of its facilities are vital to their public
image. Therefore, when selecting names for facilities for recommendation to the
Cobb County Board of Education, the District will emphasize effective public
communication and the honor and integrity that the name will reflect upon the
facility.
Names for District facilities must be approved
by the Cobb County Board of Education.
RULE:
A. Names for New Educational Facilities:
1. Individuals and organizations in Cobb County may submit
names for new facilities for
consideration by the District for
recommendation to the Board of Education.
2. New facilities may be named for individuals, families,
communities and geographic
areas of Cobb County. Specific
provisions:
a. If the name proposed honors a
person, the honoree must be deceased for at least
three (3)
years.
b. The person must have made a
significant educational, historical or social
contribution
in the community.
c. Names of persons that duplicate in
whole or part the last name of an existing
District
facility shall be ineligible for selection as the name of a new facility.
d. Names of communities served and
geographic locations in proximity to the
facility may
be proposed for consideration.
B. Names for Areas Within Educational Facilities:
1. Areas of educational facilities and property shall be
titled in accordance with their
function and the official District
name for the facility.
2. The District understands that periodically, communities
served by educational facilities
may wish to recognize individuals for
long and honorable service.
3. The Cobb County Board of Education has the authority to
accept monetary donations
from entities on behalf of the Cobb
County School District Educational Foundation.
The Board may honor individuals and
entities who contribute to the Foundation by
naming areas of District educational
facilities for them.
C. Guidelines:
1. New Educational Facilities:
a. School Naming Committee:
(1) The
School Naming Committee will follow the procedures outlined in Section
C.3. below.
(2) If the
construction of a new facility involves more than one school, the
Superintendent’s Office will request that a principal from one of the
affected
schools coordinate the process of naming the new facility. This principal
will
establish a name-selection committee, with membership consisting of:
(a) Principals from the other schools at the same grade level having
attendance zones that will be affected by the new facility.
(b) Two or more parents and/or community members, from each affected
school, to be selected by that principal. A principal may identify
representatives from the PTA/PTSA, the School Council, other school
support organizations or the general school community.
(c) Other individuals, to be determined by the coordinating principal.
(3) If the
construction of the new facility will involve only one school, the building
principal will oversee the naming of the new facility. The administrator may
ask
the members of the School Council to serve as the committee to consider
names for the new school.
b. Public Involvement:
(1) The
District will use various means to advise the community of the process
and the timeline for naming the new school(s). These means shall include,
but
not be limited to news releases, and mailings to the PTA/PTSA, school
councils,
the Cobb Chamber of Commerce, community organizations and civic clubs.
(2) The
public may submit names for committee consideration through the US
mail, fax or e-mail to a District contact designated by the Superintendent.
The names submitted must conform to Administrative Rule FF, Section A
in order to be considered.
(3) A minimum
six-week timeline shall be established for the public to propose
names. The District Contact will send an acknowledgement letter to those who
offer names for committee consideration.
(4) The
District Contact will forward the names proposed and any supporting
documentation to the coordinating principal for the School Naming
Committee’s review.
(5) The
District Contact shall maintain lists of names previously proposed by the
public but not used in naming schools. Such lists will be provided to the
appropriate school-naming committees for re-consideration.
(6)
Individuals or groups submitting a name may be invited to attend a School
Naming Committee meeting to present information in support of the suggested
name.
c. Procedures:
(1) The
coordinating principal will set the School Naming Committee’s working
timeline; typically, it would involve at least two (2) meetings over a two
(2) to
three (3) month period. This timeline should take into account the period
for
public input, the school calendar, and the Board of Education’s meeting
schedule.
(2) Each
School Naming Committee may designate one meeting to allow
individuals/groups who submit names to make brief presentations in support
of
the suggested name. These presentations should underscore the educational,
geographical, historical, personal or social significance of the favored
name.
(3) School
Naming Committee members will consider all names offered. Through a
secret ballot process, the members will identify the three (3) most
preferred
names, with the one receiving the most votes becoming the committee’s first
choice. The coordinating principal forwards this list of three (3) potential
names to the Superintendent’s designee, without disclosing the results to
the
Committee or others, except as may be required by law.
(4) At this
point, the School Naming Committee has accomplished its task and it
disbands.
(5) The
District Contact will prepare a Board agenda item incorporating the
committee’s list of three (3) proposed names, with appropriate background
information about each name. The committee’s first choice of school name is
presented as the Superintendent’s Recommendation. The Board may accept
one of the committee’s three (3) names, or it may vote on and approve
another name.
(6)
Once the Board votes on a name, the Superintendent’s Office shall advise the
schools and the public of the approved name.
D. Areas within Educational Facilities:
1. The areas of educational facilities that may be named are
limited to: media centers,
stadiums, auditoriums, gymnasiums,
cafeterias/lunch rooms, buildings detached
from the main building of the
facility (classrooms, administrative or athletic), play
grounds, athletic fields, gardens or
nature areas containing a minimum of 300 square
feet.
2. Donors:
Areas within an educational facility
as described in Section D.1. may be named for
entities that make donations of
$250,000 or more. The donation may be to an
individual school or to the District.
The Superintendent will notify the Board of
Education when such a donation is
received, including any recommendation
regarding naming an area within an
educational facility for the donor. If the Board of
Education approves the
Superintendent’s recommendation, then the name shall be
considered as permanent and
non-changeable.
3. Honorees:
Schools and their communities may
honor a living or deceased person or an
entity, according to the following
provisions:
a. District employees, living or
deceased, may be considered if they have
worked at the
educational facility for a minimum of five consecutive years or ten
cumulative
years in the District.
b. Living or deceased members of the
community served by the educational facility
may be
eligible, if those individuals have distinguished themselves through ten
(10)
documented years of school-related service and have held membership in at
least one
school-related support organization (PTA, Booster Club, Citizens’
Advisory
Council, School Council, etc.) during the years of their children’s
enrollment in
the District.
c. School administrators and
faculties may name an area of their educational facility
for
individuals once in each three-year period.
d. The administrator in charge of the
facility shall manage requests to name areas
of school
facilities and property for individuals or entities the school seeks to
honor:
(1) These
requests shall be forwarded to the Superintendent or his designee for
notification to the Board of Education prior to administration approval.
(2) The
Superintendent or his designee will inform Board Members of the request
in writing and will set a time period for the Board to comment. When the
time
period has expired, the Superintendent’s designee will advise the local
school
administrator of the status of the request.
4. Local school administrators shall confer with the Director
of Construction regarding
guidelines and specifications for
signs or markers to be placed on school facilities and
campuses to honor persons or entities
for whom educational facilities are named.
E. Other Use of School Property for Commemorative Purposes:
1. School administrators and faculties may, at their option,
place pictures, plaques and
other non-permanent commemorative
objects on the internal walls of educational
facilities in recognition of persons,
organizations and events.
2. The use of school facilities and property for honoring or
memorializing persons shall
be limited to the provisions of this
Administrative Rule. However, if the naming of a
facility for this purpose preceded
the adoption of this Rule, that name may remain in
place.
Adopted: 5/14/69; 6/9/04(Reg);
Reclassified an Administrative Rule: 9/1/04
Revised: 11/9/83; 8/8/84; 7/28/88; 2/13/91; 12/13/95; 7/22/99; 5/27/04;
12/8/05
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