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DAVIS, Calif. — For more than a generation, North Davis Elementary School has been just that: North Davis Elementary. It might seem like a simple name, but a proposal to change it in honor of a well-known educator is something many parents are not happy about.
Jessica Gray has a 4th grader at the school. She, like many parents, was surprised earlier this month when the Davis Joint Unified School District's Board of Education announced it was planning to vote to rename the school after longtime former principal, Dr. Mary Ellen Dolcini, who passed away in April.
While Gray said she thinks the intentions to make the change were “wonderful,” she is concerned about cost and resources.
“Everywhere the school name appears on physical and digital material would have to be changed,” Gray said. “From our perspective, there are education needs that are pressing and any resources that get diverted away from that makes it more difficult to meet our goals.”
In a letter to the school board, the North Davis Elementary School’s Parent Teacher Association (PTA) echoed those sentiments, saying the renaming would “impose a significant and unnecessary burden on our school and community.”
The PTA urged the board to reconsider the plan, and instead suggested renaming the school’s new multi-purpose room after Dolcini.
Will Arnold, a Davis city councilmember, went to North Davis Elementary when Dolcini was principal. His 5th grader goes there now. He said he doesn’t understand the opposition to changing the name, which he said isn’t even quite accurate.
“It’s the only remaining school that is directional, and it’s not even the farthest north,” Arnold explained.
The Davis school board did not immediately return a request for comment, but Arnold said he believes concerns about cost could be addressed through other venues, such as fundraising.
“I think what makes the school special is not lines on the map, but the long line of people that Dr. Dolcini started who have given back to the school,” he said. “And, to me, that honors what is great about the school, not it’s position on a map.”
Even so, Gray says the change just doesn’t make practical sense.
“This isn’t needed," she said. "We don’t need to name the school because it already has a name."
The Davis school board has said that it will address parents’ concerns about the proposal Thursday night at a board meeting, where initially a final vote was expected to take place.
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