The Importance of a Name

During last night's board meeting the discussion came up on the use of Central's name.  The biggest question, what is our name?  This changes depending on where you look or where you are at.  The Iowa Department of Education lists us as "Central Community School District".  I have also seen us listed as "Elkader-Central", "Elkader", "Central-Elkader", "Central-Clayton", just to name a few.  So why is this important?

The importance of a name is all about identity.  A name should say 1) who we are and 2) what we stand for.  In the five names listed above, an outsider could take away many different meanings.  Example,  "Elkader-Central" could imply that Elkader is a large city and Central is the district in the middle of the city.  As an outsider, how would you know any better?

It is important for our district to unite around our name.  Central Community School District is larger than Elkader, as we also represent Garber, Elkport, Littleport, St. Olaf, and Volga.  I would also say that Central is larger than Clayton county.  We are the only true "Central" in the State of Iowa, and we need to wear that distinction with pride!  Through our actions and what we stand for is how we want to separate our Central Community School District from other districts in Iowa with a similar name.

Today I contacted all of our news stations and asked that "Elkader" and "Clayton" be taken off our name.  The Central Community School Board will also be working on revising our branding policy as well as sending a letter to all of our local businesses informing them of our current policy.  The current policy prohibits the selling of Central gear for profit and without board approval.  While I do not want to limit the availability of Central gear, I feel it is important that we have a common voice going forward.

When Central is talked about both in and outside of our community, I want people to know exactly who we are through academic excellence, innovation, and school pride!