Naming a high school is like naming a child: There's no wrong decision per se, but the choice is going to have long-term repercussions.

Take Kim Kardashian's baby, North. Not a bad name in and of itself, but his father is Kanye West. The child is destined to be directionally challenged.

Or the child who was named Messiah. Poor kid will never know if the worker in the drive-through window is being a smart-aleck or just friendly when he utters "Come again."

But you've got to name them. A young one can't go through life with people just saying "Hey, you!" And so it is with the new high school (and yes, it's going to be a high school) in Bentonville. It will be two years before the district's second high school will be completed, but it's got to have a name. The sooner everyone realizes it won't be called "ninth-grade center," the better.

Eighth-graders and freshmen were recently polled for their preferences, and they selected Centerton High School, named after the town where the school board opted to build the facility.

The students are being asked to vote again.

Mary Ley, the district's communications director, told the school board last week she favored Alliance High School, a name reflecting a community ready for everyone to be unified after the sometimes tumultuous debate that led, eventually, to public support for the second high school to relieve overcrowding at Bentonville High.

Again, there's no wrong decision per se, just long-term repercussions.

We get it. So far, the most glaring characteristic of this new educational facility is the hurt feelings and divisions it created in the community. But with "Alliance High," isn't the school district forever linking this school to the controversial era of its birth? Twenty years from now, when incoming freshmen ask where the school's name originated, do school officials really want its history to be rooted in one of the most contentious periods the school district has seen in years?

If that's the plan, why not Rural Ambulance High School?

Naming this school isn't about peacemaking, and if it was, Unity High would be a more accurate pursuit. It's still worth questioning whether forever linking the school's name to the turbulence created by its formation is the best decision. Perhaps it's just a little too optimistic to believe a school name is going to soothe hurt feelings.

If naming the school is a plea for everyone to just get along, it could just be Rodney King High School, right?

The decision to build a second high school is done. Voters approved a millage for it. The fight has been settled. Naming the school shouldn't be focused on that controversy. Sure, some conspiracy theorists continue to press the idea that Superintendent Michael Poore and others have a secret plan to kill the second high school and reinstate the ninth-grade center approach. They are fueled by the relatively standard procedure -- Springdale and Rogers both used it -- of starting with fewer than all four grade levels and building up to the full population gradually.

Nobody is so stupid or so dedicated to professional suicide to pursue reverting to the rejected grade center plan. The phase-in is a reasonable, controlled approach to transforming the district slowly into a two-high school town.

Now, back to the easy decisions: School colors and mascot, anyone?

Commentary on 03/15/2014