December 10, 2008
JOHNS CREEK - Was there ever any doubt what the name of the new high school in Johns Creek would be named?
Though the school system had tried to attach "North Fulton high school site" as the working name of the new school, nearly everyone referred to the site as the "Johns Creek high school" from the day it appeared on the drawing boards.
And now it is the official name – voted on unanimously by the Fulton County School Board in November after a unanimous recommendation by the committee which brought the name to the board. The school opens in August.
Two months ago, Principal Buck Greene convened a group of 18 community members, students and staff to brainstorm potential names for the school. During the first of two meetings a slew of names was presented, including Riverview, Mill Creek, Bridge Crest, Robert E. Lee, Medlock, Millennium and Patriot, along with, obviously, Johns Creek.
From that first meeting, the committee narrowed the choices down to five: Bridge Creek, Bridgeside, Howell Bridge, Johns Creek and Warsaw. Notably absent, at the committee's request, was North Fulton High which it asked school officials to not consider.
Committee members took the five choices back to their schools for input; and reconvened to select three names to submit to the school board for final selection. At the end of the second meeting, the unanimous choice was Johns Creek, however the board also submitted Warsaw High as an option, as it was favored by students in one preference poll.
The Warsaw community was in the vicinity of the new high school site, and the old Warsaw Elementary School still stands on the land adjacent to the new high school site. Warsaw was the name of the Native American who ferried people across the local Chattahoochee River. Negative comments received on the name noted its association with the Warsaw Ghetto, the largest of the Jewish ghettos during WWII, established by Nazi Germany in Warsaw, Poland.
The committee did not submit a third option to the school board for consideration.
The City of Johns Creek, where the school is located, was incorporated on Dec. 2, 2006, and is also the name of the creek which runs through the area.
The name of the school is the nearly the last piece of the puzzle in place to open the school in August at is location at State Bridge Road and Medlock Bridge (Highway 141). In place is the new principal, Greene, who was selected last year; the students, based on redistricting maps approved by the board in September; and the building, scheduled to be completed on time for its summer opening.
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