NEW PALESTINE — As far back as anyone can recall, schools in the southern part of Hancock County have been part of what is called the Community School Corporation of Southern Hancock County (CSCSHC).
The six schools within the district have their own names, such as Brandywine Elementary and Sugar Creek Elementary, but most of the schools have names associated with New Palestine and include New Palestine High School, New Palestine Junior High, New Palestine Intermediate and New Palestine Elementary.
After many years of pondering a district name change, officials with the CSCSHC say now is the time to identify the district more inline with the town’s name and location. During Monday night’s school board meeting at New Palestine Intermediate School, Superintendent Lisa Lantrip asked the school board to consider changing the corporation name from the Community School Corporation of Southern Hancock County to New Palestine Community Schools.
“We’ve been talking about this for quite some time,” Lantrip said.
Part of the reason for the name change request, Lantrip noted, is the length of the current name, CSCSHC, and the confusion the district’s name creates when officials attend state conferences or out-of-the-area meetings.
“When we go places sometimes our corporation name is always different,” Lantrip said. “Sometimes we’re Southern Hancock schools, sometimes we’re the Community School Corporation of Southern Hancock, and other times we’re just plain New Palestine.”
Lantrip said she likes the idea of the district being identified as New Palestine because that name also puts the district on a map, giving a precise location.
“Currently, when we say we’re from Southern Hancock, people are not really sure where that is located until you say New Palestine,” Lantrip said.
The school board had already discussed the idea of a name change a few weeks ago during a board work session and noted then the idea of identifying the district with the town’s name of New Palestine has been something they’ve actually discussed for several years.
Lantrip asked the board to formally consider the proposal. The board was in agreement and have taken the suggestion under consideration.
“This is something I’ve pushed hard for in a lot of conversations,” board member Dan Walker said.
Walker noted board members felt having the word “community” in the new name was important for schools like Brandywine Elementary, which is outside of the town’s limits, but is certainly in need of being identified as a New Palestine school.
“We wanted a name that would embody not only Sugar Creek Township but Brandywine Township as well,” Walker said.
With that thought, coupled with the end to the massive renovation project at New Palestine High School being in sight, Walker said now is a good time to rebrand the district’s image, and a new district name is a good way to do that.
Board President Laura Haeberle said district officials looked into the cost of changing a corporation name and found it was not an expensive endeavor and is something they can do gradually.
“We were all pleasantly surprised it was not as expensive to make a change like this as we thought it might be, and we all understand this is something that will happen over time as we purchase things while some of the changes will happen right away,” Haeberle said.
While board members did not vote on the measure during their most recent meeting Monday night, Haeberle said they plan to do so during the regularly scheduled March meeting.
“If anyone hears of any questions or concerns regarding this name change, ask them to reach out to any one of us on the board or Dr. Lantrip,” Haeberle said.
Lantrip noted district officials have already reached out to community leaders, who all appear to be on board with the district name change. District officials even created four different names, asking area leaders to select which new name might be best, with suggestions like “Southern Community Schools.” However, most community leaders and board members leaned toward identifying the district by the location and calling the district New Palestine Community Schools.
