Green Bay Area Public School District building. (IMAGE: Courtesy of Fox 11 WLUK)
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — It appears Green Bay’s new west side elementary school will likely be named after Packers great Bart Starr.
The official vote will come at the school board’s April 28 meeting, but board members voiced their support during Monday evening’s meeting.
Next to where Kennedy Elementary School currently sits, dirt is already being moved to where the new elementary school will be built.
A committee of students, teachers, parents and other stakeholders met six times to come up with what the school should be named.
“There were probably about more than 20 names that we beat around, and I mean, we beat these names,” said Rick Crosson, a school board member who led the naming committee.
The committee narrowed its list down to Bart Starr Elementary, Bright Horizons Elementary and Creekside Elementary.
Per school board policy for naming a district facility, only one recommendation can be a deceased person, they must be in good morale, it cannot be the same name as other schools or buildings, nicknames need to be considered, research needs to be provided and it must have significant meaning.
“Similar in reasoning to nearby Vince Lombardi Middle School, Bart Starr Elementary School would immediately invoke a sense of school spirit, achievement, consistency, leadership and pride,” said Brittany Ortiz, a Kennedy Elementary parent who was on the naming committee.
Four of seven school board members voiced their support for Starr and poked holes in the other two names. The other three board members did not say which name they would back.
“I would not support Bright Horizons,” said Lynn Gerlach, a school board member. “All you have to do is Google it and the first thing that comes up is that huge Bright Horizons company that has daycare centers in 40 states.”
“Creekside or Creekview, another school district nearby has one,” said Andrew Becker, a school board member. “It’s a good choice because there’s a creek there, certainly.”
Bart Starr even won over the naming committee’s non-Packers fan.
“I’m so sorry, don’t hate me, I’m not from up here, the green and gold is everywhere, and I love it for you,” said Ortiz.
Students from Kennedy, Keller and MacArthur Elementary Schools will attend the new school.
The district has previously said deferred maintenance on those buildings and the price of operating three schools makes building new one more cost effective.
Two-thirds of voters approved the project last November as part of a $183 million referendum.
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