WOODSTOCK — The school district that serves Woodstock and surrounding towns is considering a name change, again.
The school district — which includes the towns of Barnard, Bridgewater, Killington, Plymouth, Pomfret, Reading and Woodstock — has had three names since it was created during last decade’s statewide school district consolidation process.
The district’s first name was bestowed by the state: Windsor Central Unified Modified School District. Then it was renamed the Windsor Central Unified Union School District, and the next year, officials landed on the current moniker, Windsor Central Supervisory Union.
“We’re still too many names, too many letters and not specific about who we are in terms of our identity,” Superintendent Sherry Sousa said.
With that in mind, the school board has sent out a survey to students, alumni and other community members asking them to weigh in on a potential name change. The survey can be found at wcsu.net/renaming-survey.
While there is no set closing date, Sousa is encouraging anyone interested in the name change to fill it out in the next couple of weeks. The goal is to make a decision by the end of this school year, which is fast approaching. In addition to the survey, district officials are considering a pulice forum to collect feedback.
When Vermont education officials assigned names to the new districts, they did so based on geography, particularly county names, such as Orange East Supervisory Union, which includes Thetford, Newbury, Corinth, Bradford and Topsham.
If a town was large enough to have its own district, it was named after that town, such as the Hartford School District.
But the naming system can be misleading, as is the case with Windsor Central Supervisory Union: Killington is in Rutland County, not Windsor.
And it has also led to confusion with similarly named supervisory unions such as Windsor Southeast, Windham Central and Washington Central.
“Often, I get bills from other places, and they probably get bills for me,” Sousa said.
Windsor Central wouldn’t be the first to change its name.
Slate Valley Supervisory Union based in Fair Haven, Vt., was previously known as Addison-Rutland, and Maple Run Unified School District was originally dubbed Franklin Central.
“Over time, some of the districts have changed their names to better reflect where they’re located in the state,” said Keri Bristow, vice chairwoman of Windsor Central School Board. “It’s motivated by eliminating the confusion that’s gone on for years.”
White River Valley Supervisory Union in Royalton and Ludlow-based Two Rivers Supervisory Union are other examples.
“All of them … were all really having the same intention, moving from where they are located on a map to something more specific to who they are,” Sousa said.
While a cost for a proposed name change has yet to be determined, Sousa does not anticipate it will be that high.
“It’s letterhead, it’s changing our email domain. We really haven’t explored that, but it can happen over time,” she said.
Grant applications and policy documents would also have to be updated.
“I think it’s more of a heavy lift of changing our name on paper more than a monetary cost,” Sousa said.
The conversation about the name change started about three years ago as the district began working on a strategic plan.
That included discussions about the district’s values and culture.
One question that arose, Bristow said, is what does the name Windsor Central mean?
“Some people say, ‘What does it matter? I think about the schools, I don’t think about the name of the district,’ ” Bristow said.
One of the reasons for launching the survey was to have residents consider the name of the district..
“We’re trying to get that idea out there that if we do make a change of the name, what’s important to you,” Bristow said.
The district has features that unite it, including ski areas.
“There’s a lot of things to take a look at to say if we’re going to do a place-based name, what can we get behind?” Bristow said. “I think people have talked about things like Ottauquechee Valley District because all of our towns in one way or another connect to the Ottauquechee River.”
So far, the community has been supportive of changing the name.
As of last Thursday, Sousa had not received any comments in opposition.
“People understand why (the district is) desiring to do this,” Sousa said.
Once the survey results are compiled, the district’s board would be the group that officially votes on the name change; it will not go before voters.
Bristow and Sousa said they don’t have a preference for what the new name could be.
“It could be based on a historical event, it could be around a geographical location, it could be around a geological feature,” Sousa said. “I’m fine with any one of those as long as it is something that’s true to who we are.”
Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.
