Naming the New Elementary

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Opening in 2021 - The New Miami Whitewater Elementary School picture collage

Introducing "Miami Whitewater Elementary"

Acting on a recommendation by the School Naming Committee, the Southwest Local School District Board of Education has officially named the new elementary school located on the central campus, "Miami Whitewater Elementary".

The committee was led by Board Member Tricia Evanson, and was comprised of 15-20 administrators, staff members, PTA members and citizens from the general community. Board policy directs that “in making the determination the committee considers individuals, geographical locations, general features of the area in which the school or facility is located, and other names that, in the judgment of the Board, are deemed appropriate.”

The discussion started with 10-15 names, but options were quickly narrowed down to Miami Whitewater or Whitewater. Evanson explains the thought process from there: "We established early on that if we were going to keep the names of the other elementary schools (which we definitely were), then this name had to match—we couldn’t have two of our townships represented and not the third. So Whitewater needed to be somewhere in the name. Several committee members liked the shortness of Whitewater Elementary (and the simplicity of having each township clearly represented in the name of an elementary school), but the concern was that it was too similar to Whitewater Valley Elementary, and didn’t take into account the long tradition of excellence at Miamitown. We were cognizant that Whitewater Township is going to lose the last elementary school located in its borders with the opening of this new school, and we wanted to be sure to honor both the township and Miamitown." The committee established a consensus in just one meeting.

The committee liked that the name also tracks with Miami Whitewater Forest, which is a huge part of the community, is a recognizable landmark for people all over the tri-state, and is located very close to the new school building.

The Board made the name official at their meeting on November 21, 2019.