UPDATE, November 12, 2019:
The new high school to be built at Wildcreek now has a name, and it's a familiar one. The Washoe County School District's Board of Trustees decided Tuesday that it will be called Procter Hug High School.
At the Washoe County School District's Regular Board Meeting, Trustees voted 6-1 for the school to be named Procter Hug. The current Hug High School site will become a technical trade school, and its new name was also up for discussion on Tuesday evening. However, Trustees did not make a decision on the name. During the meeting Trustees unanimously voted to send two of the three finalists back to the School Naming Committee for review.
Debbie Smith, who was a Nevada State Senator, and Dolores Feemster, a long-time counselor at Hug High and a Civil Rights activists are the two final names to consider. Michael Landsberry, a teacher who was killed trying to stop a shooter at Sparks Middle School in 2013, was taken out of the running because it go the fewest votes.
The Naming Committee will make another recommendation to the board at a later date. At the Board Meeting they discussed various options. There's a possibility that they could combine the names or use one for another school.
There was a lot of passionate speakers at Tuesday's meeting during the public comment portion.
"People are getting involved because they are passionate about naming our schools after people who have don great things in the community." said Lonniel Feemster, the son of Late Dolores Feemster.
The family members say it would be a great honor to have their relative's name chosen, but some said they wouldn't mind either way.
Greg Smith, Husband of late Debbie Smith said, "That's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes and we'd be okay with that. We'd respect their decision."
Lonniel Feemster also said, "She's my mother I'm blessed no matter what happens. I'm still blessed and it's still my community and it's still her community."
The School District is asking for public input before a final decision is made.
Original Story, October 9, 2019: A survey to name the new high school at Wildcreek and Technical Academy at Hug High is now open.
You may remember last week when we told you about the 10 semi-finalist names for the two schools.
The Washoe County School District is now letting the public vote on the names before its next meeting on November 6th.
To access the survey, click here.Â
The new high school is being built at the site of the old Wildcreek Golf Course. The other school will be for Hug High School after it is re-purposed into a tech school.
The final names will then go to the Washoe County School District Board of Trustees for a vote on the final name on November 12th.
Below are the list of names that the School Naming Committee picked at the October meeting. They have decided to take a unique approach and have the names be picked as a package deal. For example, if the final vote is the first option, the new school at Wildcreek would be "Hug" and the current Hug location would be "Feemster."
