Akron City Councilman Mike Freeman doesn’t want to see the Kenmore name disappear from the school district.
With the school board planning to merge Kenmore and Garfield high schools, Freeman, a 1975 Kenmore high graduate, is urging the district to rename the new school Kenmore-Garfield High School.
“It’s been done before and I don’t see any reason that it can’t be done again,” he said Monday.
Freeman, who represents the Kenmore neighborhood, cited the city’s Central Hower and Miller South schools as examples of shared names after a merger.
He has proposed a resolution before City Council encouraging the school board to adopt the Kenmore-Garfield name. The council is expected to vote on the proposal Monday night.
School officials couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on where they are with naming the new school.
Kenmore and Garfield, located in the city’s Firestone Park neighborhood, are being consolidated as part of the district’s ongoing $800 million renovation and construction program that dates back to 2002.
The district so far has rebuilt or renovated three of its existing high schools — East, Buchtel and Firestone. A fourth, Ellet, is in the process.
But the school system has seen falling enrollment and doesn’t have the financial ability to construct two new high schools.
The goal is to start construction of the school in 2018. A specific site hasn’t been selected yet.
The district already has determined to use the state’s school identification number for Garfield moving forward, Freeman said.
It would be especially insulting to the neighborhood to do away with the Kenmore name considering the district plans to house both Kenmore and Garfield students at the Kenmore school while the new high school is being built, he added.
The closure is a blow to the neighborhood, Freeman said.
“It’s a loss from several standpoints,” he said. “I have a diploma but I don’t have a school anymore. There’s nothing to point to. That school is unique in that it bears the name of the community.
“When you say ‘Kenmore,’ you think not only of a school but you also think of a community. I think we’re going to maintain the Kenmore community even if the high school isn’t there because the community is strong enough.”
Rick Armon can be reached 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at @armonrickABJ .