School board renames new East Elementary, tweaks naming policy

The new Legacy Elementary School being built on 100 South will replace the aging East Elementary School, St. George, Utah, Jan. 12, 2016 | Photo by Julie Applegate, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — The Washington County School District Board of Education continued making changes to its policy for naming school facilities and announced the new name for the East Elementary replacement school at its regular meeting Tuesday.

The new school will be called Legacy Elementary and is being built on the site of the former Elks Baseball Field — a replacement for the aging East Elementary, located at 600 East in St. George.

Once vacated, East Elementary will be sold to Dixie State University and converted for use as its new School of Education. The Utah Legislature has set aside $1.5 million for Dixie State to buy the East Elementary school property.

The new school will be the first two-story elementary school the district has built and will be roughly the same size as other elementary schools despite being on a more compact space compared to other elementary schools.

The new elementary school was part of a three-way deal between the school district, the City of St. George and Dixie State University. The district needed a place to build a new elementary, the university needed to expand to meet growing demands and the city had surplus property where the elementary school could be built.

School naming policy

The Board continued to fine-tune the policy governing the naming of schools and school facilities. The move comes in the wake of a months-long battle with supporters of Coach Don Lay over the name of Dixie High School’s new baseball field.

The new policy will clarify the rules for naming school facilities, including sports fields, classrooms, building wings and labs.

The revised version of the naming policy is available for public comment for 30 days, Board President Laura Hesson said. See below for a link to the policy and instructions on how to submit comments.

Assistant principal honored

Greg Bozarth, of Lava Ridge Intermediate School, was named assistant principal of the year by the Utah Association of Secondary School Principals at a ceremony in Salt Lake City Jan. 6.

Bozarth has been assistant principal at Lava Ridge since 2003 and is known as the “hero of the bus drivers,” Washington County School District Superintendent Larry Bergeson said, because he helps the students become responsible bus riders.

“And if there is a problem, he responds immediately and appropriately to take care of and address the needs of the bus drivers, transportation department, the students, the parents, the teachers,” Bergeson said.

Resources

  • Policy No. 5111 Naming of School Facilities can be found on the district’s Web page
  • To comment on the policy, email Kajsia Boyer at the school district office

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @STGnews

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2016, all rights reserved.

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1 Comment

  • Pheo January 13, 2016 at 9:19 am

    What’s with these generic names for schools? Rather than naming schools “Heritage” and “Legacy”, why don’t we reach into our community’s actual heritage and legacy to find names that actually mean something?

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