MMSD Today

News and information for staff members and the Madison community

Vol. III No. 3 - February 27, 2008

Four recommendations for name of new school

by Ken Syke, Public Information

The Board of Education-appointed Citizens Naming Committee recommended four names for the new Madison School District school under construction on the West side. They are:
Jeffrey Erlanger, Paul J. Olson, Howard Temin and Ilda Thomas.

The Board received the full report [PDF File] along with 18 appendices and a short verbal presentation from Committee Chair David Mollenhoff on February 18.

The next step in the process is a public hearing on the proposed name recommendations. It will take place on Tuesday, February 26 at 7:00 p.m. in the McDaniels Auditorium of the Doyle Administration Building, 545 W. Dayton St.

The Board has scheduled the discussion and possible vote on the school name as part of their meeting on Monday, March 24 at 6:00 p.m. also at the Doyle building.

The 13-member Committee had the challenging task of reducing the 87 suggested names down to at least four for the Board's consideration. The Committee made their decision based on the development and systematic application of 19 criteria, four in the charge from the Board and 15 it developed.

The Committee:

met four times for approximately two hours each,
quoting the report, "read a flurry of weekly packets, attachment-laden emails, handouts the day of the meeting, and more than 800 pages of name documentation and public comments," and
followed the same homework-based process each week in which members — working independently — filled out worksheets which listed names on the left and criteria across the top; each person's list of cut names and criteria used was sent to an MMSD staff person who tallied the results. "This homework system saved untold hours of precious meeting time."

Again quoting the report:

The four names that made it through our systematic, criteria-driven process shared several qualities:

All were persons.

All persons were locally prominent and one was locally, nationally, and internationally prominent.

All of their lives were overwhelmingly inspiring and would in our judgment be outstanding role models for elementary age children.

All optimized the most sought-after qualities.
All four passed two background checks performed by MMSD staff. The purpose of this due diligence is to make reasonably sure that none of the persons we selected had incidents, patterns, or qualities that fail to meet our overwhelming exemplary and inspiring test.
Each (recommended name) possesses outstanding qualities that will dignify the school, inspire its students, and honor the district.

Vignettes about each of the persons are on pages 10-13 of the report [PDF File] .

Additional background information is also available on the final four names by clicking here [PDF File] .

The Board was unanimous in their appreciation for the work of the Citizens Naming Committee and their final report.

The 13 members were: Nikki Baumblatt, LaVonne LaFave Bennett, Tom Brien, Salvadore Carranza, Cindy Crane, Enrique Gandara, Aiesha Golden, Mary Gulbrandsen, Karen Helle, Peng Her, Kris Koval, David Mollenhoff (Chair) and Angie Thomas.

The Citizens Naming Committee at work at one of their meetings, which were all held at Wright Middle School.

Four recommendations for name of new school

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