Palm Beach County School Board chooses name for incoming Boynton Beach-area middle school

One of the newest schools coming to Palm Beach County will shed its placeholder name, “17-PP Middle School,” and open under the official name approved Wednesday.

When students walk onto the new campus in August, they’ll be arriving at West Boynton Middle School, a 12-acre property that’s already taking shape near the corner of Boynton Beach Boulevard and Acme Dairy Road.

The name, approved unanimously by the Palm Beach County School Board, is a slight departure from one of the suggestions offered by a committee of parents, students and community members.

A look back: District clear to build new Boynton area middle school

School adds to growing community: West of Boynton, $12 million first phase of Canyon District Park comes to life

More: Palm Beach County's first new high school in 17 years opens next fall. What will it be named?

The first recommendation was Agnes Ballard Middle School.

Agnes Ballard became the first woman to serve as the county’s superintendent of public instruction when voters elected her in 1920, months after the 19th Amendment was ratified and women secured the right to vote.

Ballard was also the first woman registered in Florida to practice architecture, according to the Historical Society of Palm Beach County.

During the school board meeting Wednesday, Vice Chair Karen Brill, whose district encompasses the new school, shared that only 1% of the 442 people who took an online survey preferred Agnes Ballard Middle.

The survey, she said, originated in a Facebook group for residents of the Canyons, a series of communities near the school.

Why Summit West Middle didn't work

The school district’s committee also recommended Summit West Middle School.

“The school is surrounded by the Canyons, Greystone, Cobblestone, etc.,” the school board agenda read, naming several nearby communities. “At the top, the peak, we will be the Summit amongst all of those.”

But the school board’s general counsel, Shawntoyia Bernard, said the recommendation was problematic because another public school — presumably Renaissance Charter School at Summit — already had the word “summit" in its name.

She pointed to the district policy on naming schools, which states that “names of existing schools or combinations thereof shall not be used."

The same issue applied to a suggestion by some residents that it be named Sunset Palms Middle School, a nod to Sunset Palms Elementary, which neighbors the new campus.

And the committee’s third recommendation, Boynton West Middle School, prompted concerns among some parents and students who questioned whether it was grammatically correct to place “West” after “Boynton,” Brill said.

She said a slightly modified version, West Boynton Middle School, received overwhelming support on the Facebook survey, with 96% of people voting for the name.

Brill moved to adopt the name, and her motion quickly passed with a 6-0 vote. Board member Erica Whitfield felt sick and left before the vote, the board chair said during Wednesday’s meeting.

“We’re excited to get the name and be able to move forward and continue building a community around this school,” said Joe Peccia, the school’s incoming principal.

Athletics, special programs planned for West Boynton Middle School

Peccia, who is transferring from Eagles Landing Middle School, will take the helm at a school that includes three education buildings and two specialty programs: a medical academy and a technology program.

The first building will be three stories tall and house classrooms, administrative offices and a media center.

The second building will house art classrooms, along with a gymnasium, fitness equipment and lockers, while a third building will house music classrooms and a dining area.

All of the buildings are organized around an outdoor courtyard. And the new school is also expected to have six outdoor basketball courts, four tennis courts, a 100-meter track and fields for soccer, baseball and softball.

West Boynton Middle School, which will house about 1,300 students, is likely to relieve crowding at Christa McAuliffe Middle School and Woodlands Middle School, though final boundaries for the new school will be decided through a series of public meetings later this year.  

The campus is scheduled to open in August, the same opening date as the county’s newest high school.

Currently known as “OOO,” the incoming high school is located on Lyons Road, in the western Lake Worth area, and the school board will finalize its name during a future meeting.

Giuseppe Sabella is an education reporter at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at gsabella@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism and subscribe today. 

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: What did the PBC school board name the new Boynton Beach middle school?