Some Upcounty Residents Not Happy With Board Suggestions For New School Name

The Board of Education suggested naming new Clarksburg middle school for former Wootton High School Principal Michael Doran or one of three other former school system officials

February 25, 2016 9:50 a.m.

Some residents of Clarksburg, Germantown and Damascus aren’t thrilled with the four county Board of Education suggestions for the name of the area’s new middle school, set to open in August.

During a Feb. 9 closed session, the board chose to submit the names of four former school system officials—including Michael Doran, the former Thomas Wootton High School principal who died suddenly in August—to the principal of the school and its naming committee.

The other board suggestions were James Daugherty, the first black member of the Board of Education who died in January; Paul Vance, the first black superintendent of Montgomery County Public Schools who died last year; and Alan Cheung, the first Asian American elected to the board.

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“With all my respect to the members of the [Board of Education] and principal of Wotton H.S [sic] I don’t think these members did something outstanding or remarkable to be remembered,” wrote Clarksburg resident Olga Benito-Kristovich on an online petition calling for the school to be named after Hallie Wells, the Clarksburg resident who in 1981 donated her family’s property to the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission for what is now known as Ovid Hazen Wells Recreational Park.

“A school should be named for a local person, not some unknown, faceless political person who means nothing to the community,” wrote Germantown resident Michelle Faison on the same petition. It had 263 supporters Thursday morning.

Another online petition supporting naming the new school after Cheung had 1,002 supporters Thursday morning.

“Clarksburg, where the new middle school is located, is a fast growing and very diverse community,” wrote Clarksburg resident Ting Chau, who started the petition. “More than a third of its nearly 50,000 residents are Asian Americans, many with school-age children.”

The school, near the intersection of Little Seneca Parkway and Ridge Road, is in Clarksburg. The school’s naming committee, which includes community members, can consider names other than what the board suggested. The board must approve the school’s new name.

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Doran was a revered figure at Wootton, the high-performing school of almost 2,200 students in Rockville. His death, due to natural causes at the age of 64, came days before the start of the 2015-2016 school year.

But Clarksburg resident Rich Liu, who started the petition to name the school after Wells, said the community’s new school should be named after someone actually connected to the community.

“The Montgomery County Board of Education has proposed four names for the new middle school in Clarksburg,” Liu wrote. “Three of them are former members of the [Board of Education] and the other was the principal of Wootton High School in Rockville.”

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