We've got a new high school going in near our house, way out in the country north of Prattville, Alabama. There has been a lot of buzz about naming the new school after the (old) Marbury High School which this school will be replacing. There's been online petitions and a regular stream of articles in the local weekly paper talking about community, memories, provenance, etc.
It seems to me that building a new school is an excellent change to brainstorm, involve the community, get creative and come up with a new name for a new school. Instead everyone seemed to get stuck in nostalgia.
The (old) Marbury High School is in Marbury, a very small community in rural central Alabama. The (new) Marbury High School in not in Marbury, it is not even near Marbury. It's 8.5 - 10 miles from Marbury to the new school site depending on your route. The new school does find itself in the community of Pine Level, Alabama.
Why not rename the current Marbury High School to Marbury School (it is destined to become the new middle school) and give the new school a new name that reflects something about its new location, an honored member of the education community, or some famous individual (president, governor, etc.)?
That's my two cents, now I'll sit back and wait for the first sporting event at the school where the visiting team erroneously goes to the old school because they didn't even know there was a new school...
- (new) Marbury High School construction project page from Cooper Brothers Construction
- (new ) Marbury High School construction photos from Cooper Brothers Construction
