FREEPORT

For some Freeport High School students, being true to their school means keeping its current name.

Renovations are underway at the Holbrook Street school that includes a new cafeteria. As physical changes are made to the building, consideration of changing the building’s name also is underway.

About 500 students in Grades 9 through 12 attend Freeport High School that comprises of Freeport, Pownal and Durham pupils.

Regional School Unit 5’s board of directors may discuss renaming the school at its Wednesday meeting as it reviews the recent Pride and Unity survey. That survey is aimed to spark discussion about how to recognize the district’s successes, according to School Superintendent Becky Foley. The survey closed Nov. 25.

Those respondents included parents, citizens, RSU 5 staff members, FHS alumni and middle school students.

Tabulation of all groups shows 622 people “strongly disagree” that “renaming of the high school will improve unity and pride in the District.”

A second survey question asked respondents to weigh in on the statement, “RSU5 should rename the high school.” There were 728 people who said they “strongly disagree.”

Freeport Middle School students, however, were more in agreement that renaming the high school would improve unity and pride in the tri-town district, 94-74.

So far, at public discussion during school board meetings, support remains to keep the high school’s name as is, including by current students from the three towns.

“We should not change it,” said Finn Johnston, 16, of Pownal. “It doesn’t hurt my feelings at all that the name is not of my district.”

Kara Galletta, 17, of Durham, spoke practically about what it would take to change the school’s name.

“I still feel like a student of Freeport High School,” she said. “I feel the money it would take to change the name could be better used for other things.”

Galletta mentioned the cost to change the name of the school on its stationery, sports team shirts, and buses.

Toby Holt, 15, of Freeport, said a name that may include Freeport, Durham and Pownal in one breath could be a mouthful.

“It might be a little bit of a handful to say,” he said.

John Giddens, 15, and also of Freeport, said inclusion wasn’t a concern.

“You’d have to change all of the names too, and that would cost a lot to do that,” he said.

Students and graduates of FHS from Pownal and Durham may not feel as left out as some may believe.

“I think they feel included,” Holt said of the district’s two smaller towns.

Alexa Koenig, 15, of Durham, said she agrees with Galletta, noting it is better to focus time, effort and cost on other school improvements.

“We have so many more projects,” Koenig said, naming the track and field construction, “that could use the money wisely.”

Wednesday’s meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. at Freeport High School.