The RISD Board of Trustees approved a resolution to rename five district facilities during the Oct. 17 meeting.
Two-minute impact
Superintendent Tabitha Branum said the opportunity for new names came about as part of RISD’s Project RightSize initiative, which included the closure and consolidation of campuses within the district.
The district convened a renaming committee that included trustees, staff representatives and community members to decide on the new names, said Sandra Hayes, assistant superintendent of district operations. A survey of name options was posted on the district’s website for several weeks, according to meeting documents.
“I’m really happy that we had so much community involvement with deciding on the names,” Trustee Vanessa Pacheco said.
The specifics
Much of the feedback received from the community centered around maintaining existing neighborhood names in the facilities, officials said.
“Part of what the committee discussed and what we heard from the community was the importance of keeping the name of where the schools are located as part of their new name,” Hayes said.
Per meeting documents, the facilities new names are:
- Greenwood Hills Learning Center from Greenwood Hills Elementary
- Spring Valley Learning Center from Spring Valley Elementary
- Thurgood Marshall Student Success Academy from Thurgood Marshall Elementary
- RISD Support Center from Christa McAuliffe Learning Center
- Little Rams & Little Wildcats Child Learning Academy at Spring Ridge from Spring Ridge Elementary
The new names are expected to correspond more closely with the future use of the facilities, officials said.
