District clarifies renaming policy to formalize community survey and board discretion

At the Feb. 9 second reading, staff presented clarifying revisions to MMSD’s facility naming and renaming policy. The changes added a definition of "school community" (staff, students, parents and guardians), called for a community survey to gauge consensus after the board receives a renaming request, and clarified that the board retains final authority to accept or decline proposed name changes even if a threshold is not met.

Board members sought clearer procedural language about how proposals initiated outside a specific school community will be handled and asked staff to change the procedural wording from “recommendation” to “request” where appropriate. Staff agreed to reword procedural steps and to bring a clean version back to the board for final action at the regular board meeting. The revised policy continues to allow names that are people, places or geographic references and requires that when names are advanced to the board, four candidate names be provided (two of which must be personal names when applicable), giving the board options during final selection.

Next steps: staff will update the redline to reflect the requested wording changes (request vs. recommendation), add language to clarify how the board will consider impacts beyond the school community, and return the policy for a final vote at the regular board meeting.