EG School Board Plays Pre-WGS ‘Name Game’

WHAT TO CALL EAST GREENE/JEFFERSON-SCRANTON??

East Greene School Board President Marc Hoffman opened the door to some much needed discussion about a new name for the conjoined East Greene and Jefferson-Scranton High School and Middle School at the Oct. 19 board meeting.

The two school districts are entering into a whole grade sharing arrangement next year, 2012-13, in which all 5th and 6th grade students from both districts will attend classes in the East Greene high school/middle school building in Grand Junction. All the EG and JS middle school students will attend classes in the Jefferson-Scranton Middle School and all EG and JS high school students will attend classes in the Jefferson-Scranton High School. Both buildings are in Jefferson and each was the middle school and high school serving Jefferson before it merged with Scranton in the early 1990s.

This year, however, the two school districts are already sharing high school instrumental and vocal music and speech, in addition to an ongoing arrangement of sharing teachers and certain academic classes, such as science, vocational agriculture and advanced college placement.

The issue came home to Hoffman as a band parent. Both of his children are in the J-S Marching Band which also includes East Greene students, but the band’s signage says Jefferson-Scranton only. “One of my kids was not happy about the band being introduced at a recent event as just the Jefferson-Scranton band, but the other one was OK with it,” Hoffman shared with other board members at the meeting held in the ICN room of the high school in Grand Junction.

No action was taken at the meeting, but the topic has been listed a discussion item at recent joint board meetings between the two districts’ school boards and will be an ongoing topic as the two districts move toward the start date for WGS next July. Board members did note that moving forward any changes would involve new signage, school colors, and uniforms for activities like band and sports. Mention was also made of the new “Home of the Rams” sign that was just put up at the main entrance to the Jefferson-Scranton Middle School gymnasium (used by JS high school athletics).

EYE ON GJ SAYS: Hats off to Hoffman for getting the ball rolling on this. It’s one of a number of important topics that will need to be discussed moving forward. Better to start now rather than wait until the June 2012 meeting just before the agreement officially goes into effect and creates a last-minute, “11th hour” situation.

I posted something on this site a few weeks ago on this very topic: “I suggest something that truly unites us across the board and helps this area stand out from the crowd: Lincolnway Community School District. Yes, the Lincoln (highway and president), with the statue of honest Abe on the courthouse square—on the county-owned side!—as our rallying point for all of Greene County, or at least all the towns and townships that would be inclusive of a reorg of the current J-S and EG districts.
“Lincolnway cleanly ties together the three largest towns of the [proposed] district which are also the three largest towns of the county—Scranton, Jefferson and Grand Junction. The school district and the Lincoln served by the three towns also embrace these townships: Scranton and Kendrick Townships and the city of Scranton; Bristol, Jackson, Hardin and Grant Townships surrounding the city of Jefferson; and the super-size Junction Township and the city of Grand Junction, the second largest town in Greene County with Scranton being third, both trailing Jefferson, the county seat and proposed site of the high school.”

Of course, the aspect of a “community school district” is still an option down the road, but in the duration as EG and JS move forward in whole grade sharing, it would be smart to “rebrand” a shared high school and middle school with new names. Lincolnway High School and Lincolnway Middle School truly fit the bill.