Set bar high when naming new elementary

By The Iowa City Press-Citizen

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With a new elementary being built on the western edge of Iowa City to replace Roosevelt Elementary, Iowa City School District officials are seeking help in naming the new school. A committee -- drawn from district staff, the Iowa City School Board, the Roosevelt-Horn-Weber-Kirkwood committee, the Iowa City Education Association and SEIU -- is soliciting names from the public through Jan. 3 and is scheduled to offer its recommendation to the School Board by Jan. 25.

Elementaries in the district already have been named for:

An activist: Helen Lemme.

Artists, poets and writers: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Mark Twain and Grant Wood.

A historian: Irving Weber.

Locations: Coralville Central and Hills.

Politicians: Herbert Hoover, Samuel Jordan Kirkwood, Abraham Lincoln, Robert Lucas, Theodore Roosevelt and William Penn.

Educators: Buford Garner, Ernest Horn, Horace Mann, Bohumil Shimek and Kate Wickham.

A scientist: James Van Allen.

Some names to add to this list include:

Johanna Nelson Beers, a Press-Citizen writer and food columnist for 65 years.

Norman Borlaug, a Cresco native who won the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for his work with grain to remedy world hunger.

Former UI President Sandy Boyd, who not only led the university from 1969 to 1981 but who also resettled in Iowa City to teach in the law school building that bears his name.

Former University of Iowa International Writing Program directors Paul and Hualing Nieh Engle, for their efforts to transform Iowa City into the city of literature it has become.

The late University of Iowa physician and researcher Ignacio Ponseti for developing a non-surgical method that has helped thousands of children worldwide to learn to walk without assistance.

Disability advocate and larger-than-life personality Bill Sackter.

Other names of local historical interest can be found at the Press-Citizen's “The Fabulous 150” project (www.press-citizen-media.com/150 ).

Whatever name school officials decide upon, we hope it helps foster a sense of community for the new school and also sets a high bar for the educational standards we will want to see in place.

“We had lot of people write about Buford Garner and they told us about the man,” said Assistant Superintendent Ann Feldmann, describing the district's most recent school naming process. “(Details) really compelled the committee. It made kids want to learn more about him.”