Sherry Anderson, district administrator leading the naming process, presented the second-round recommendations for the two new middle schools on Oct. 2 and summarized the multi-step community input process.

Anderson described the three-phase process: (1) an initial survey open to families in school boundaries that collected name suggestions; (2) a committee narrowed suggestions to five choices for each school and a second survey pared winners to two; and (3) principals and local communities reviewed close results and advised final recommendations. “They would like to stick with the previous recommendations of the mascot being a hawk and the colors blue and silver,” Anderson said for the Nibley school recommendation.

Administration recommended Maple View Middle School for the Nibley site, with a hawk mascot and blue-and-silver colors. For the Hyde Park site, administration recommended Juniper Ridge Middle School with a fox mascot and “bridal blue, gray, and white” colors. Anderson said the committee and school leaders aimed to avoid names that would cause confusion with existing district school names and to select names representing the broader community.

Anderson said response rates to the surveys were strong (board members mentioned figures in the 40% range in discussion) and that some communities conducted an additional round of outreach where earlier tallies were close. The board did not take a formal vote Oct. 2; Anderson presented the recommendations for consideration and questions.

Board members offered brief comments and light discussion about mascots and colors; no formal action was recorded during the presentation.