EDITORIAL: The school with no name

Paul Taggart
Dannevirke has a shiny new primary school , due to open in May, after a controversial decision to merge Dannevirke North and Hillcrest.
The two schools became one in 2003, with the decision made for the new entity to be based on the former Dannevirke North site.
However, finding a name has proved too difficult for the new school's board of trustees.
The board decided unanimously to employ a public relations company to develop ideas for a new name, motto, crest and sport uniform for the school.
Board chairperson Deidre Stephens said whenever a decision was made to merge schools, there would always be a small amount of loyalty towards the two previous schools. Because of this it was decided to hire a PR firm, to keep everything "fair and even".
But is that really necessary? Trustees are paid (albeit a tiny amount) to run their schools, so there shouldn't be any need for them to call in advisers over something so trivial.
Napier's William Colenso College opened last year without the need for a public relations firm to pick its name. The school was created after Colenso High School and Wycliffe Intermediate merged.
The College consulted the community before coming up with the name. It might not be the most exciting title in the world, but it works.
The Dannevirke cop-out is reminiscent of Hawke's Bay Regional Council's plan to spend a wad of ratepayers' cash to "freshen up" their logo. At one stage the project was budgeted at $26,000. A proposed name change for the council was predicted to cost $130,000.
Let us hope the Dannevirke board of trustees has something more modest in mind.
The public relations firm will be required to consult with the Dannevirke community, giving them several choices, and then report back to the school board. The board will consider the options and community opinion, before making a final decision.
Why? Surely the people of Dannevirke can do the job without outside help? It is simple. Have a combination of the two former names, or come up with something new. Give the parents and the public every opportunity to participate, then put the best few names to the board for a vote.
They could use the town's Viking theme for inspiration, although that's not politically correct at the moment if the row over the statue is anything to go by.
Or what about politics? Helen Clark School or less likely, since he caused the problem in the first place, Trevor Mallard School?
There is the obvious - Dannevirke Primary School. It probably wouldn't be confused with the existing Dannevirke South School.
Or follow the lead of Auckland's Starship Hospital, with something really unusual - Spacecraft School?
But at the end of the day it matters little what the name is, provided it is not too silly. It is what happens inside the buildings that count, and whether the new entity can build a reputation to rival its fellow primary school across town.