Shabbona mulling over name change

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The District 54 school board is mulling over the idea of changing the name of Shabbona Middle School. It’s not really a true “middle school,” they say, since the middle school concept was done away with the budget cuts four years ago.

The suggestion arose after the Braves Booster Club requested they be allowed to paint over bricks in the Shabbona hallway by the southwest doors leading to the gyms. The bricks currently boast the names of donors to Shabbona athletic programs, but the boosters are asking permission to transfer the donors’ names to a plaque and paint over the wall.

District administrator Teri Shaw said they are considering painting a large welcome to the school sign there, possibly along with a portrait of Chief Shabbona, the school’s namesake and legendary Grundy County hero who saved pioneer lives by warning them of an Indian war party.

But in discussing painting the name of the school, the question arose regarding school’s current name. Should we continue to keep the middle school name, some asked at last week’s school board work/study meeting, or change it to junior high, or leave both off and name the school, “Chief Shabbona School?”

After the meeting, Shabbona principal Sheryl Dzuryak explained that the school, which houses sixth through eighth grades, used to be a junior high, but was changed to a middle school more than a dozen years ago when the district went to a middle school concept.

That concept is more student-centered, she said, with more fine arts and integration of different subject materials. The school was divided into two teams during the middle school years, and each teacher taught two or three different subjects. Teachers also got an additional planning period to meet with students or parents or to plan inter-disciplinary units.

When the budget cuts forced Shabbona to return to more of a junior high school format, the middle school name remained. Some thought the school would return to the middle school concept as the district’s financial situation improved, but Shaw said that change is not even in the school’s five-year plan.

Shaw said that the discussion of changing Shabbona’s name is in the very early stages, and that the board would consider the idea more fully after staff researches the legal ramifications, the considerations of Chief Shabbona’s tribe if there are any members left, and ISBE regulations.

Dzuryak said if the board is serious about the possibility, there should be a committee formed to look at the pro’s and con’s and to get input from the students and the community.

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