JEFFERSON TWP — Come July 1, the South Butler County School District will cease to exist.
The school board at its Wednesday meeting voted 7-1 to change the district's name to Knoch School District.
State Rep. Marci Mustello, R-11th, championed a bill in Harrisburg to allow the district to change its name, which passed both chambers and was signed by Gov. Tom Wolf last month.
The bill requires a two-thirds vote by the school board to change the name, which was accomplished on Wednesday.
Superintendent David Foley recommended changing the district's name to Knoch two years ago in the interest of a fresh start and because most people already refer to the district as Knoch since that is the name of two of its schools and all the district's sports teams.
“It's the name we most readily identify with,” Foley told the board on Wednesday.
He said the total cost to change the signage at the two elementary schools to Knoch Primary School and Knoch Intermediate Elementary School, changing the name on the district's main sign, and switching out the small blue signs that direct motorists to various areas in the district will be $6,200, Foley said.
He said the current mats and rugs in the schools will be used until they wear out, then replaced with Knoch School District lettering. The mats cost about $675 apiece and there are 21 throughout the district's buildings.
Letterhead will continue to be used until it is depleted, then Knoch School District letterhead will be ordered, Foley said.
The district’s logo would remain the same, Foley said.
He added that Tom Breth, district solicitor, said there should be no problems with the contracts the district has with various vendors and contractors, as most contracts are with “South Butler County School District or its successor.”
Foley said Diehl Automotive and Concordia Lutheran Ministries paid $33,000 to sponsor the main sign in 2012 for a term of five years, and could be approached to sponsor again.
“The money from those sponsorships would pay for everything,” Foley said.
He said he envisions a celebration of the name change at the beginning of the new school year in the fall in which each student gets a Knoch School District T-shirt and the students pose en masse on the football field's new turf for a picture.
A community celebration could be held at the annual pie festival in the fall, he said.
Board member Debra Miller voted against the name change, as she did in December 2019 when the idea came up. Miller thinks the change is frivolous.
“There's a certain level of honoring the past,” Miller said. “To change just for the sake of change, sometimes I don't understand that.”
She said employers of those living in the school district will have to change their procedure from sending payroll taxes to Knoch School District instead of South Butler County School District.
She said the district's Intermediate Unit, the county Vocational-Technical School and others will have to change the district's name to Knoch School District as well.
“We are forcing changes on a lot of others by changing our name,” Miller said.
Donna Eakin, school board president, disagreed that the move was simply for the sake of change.
Eakin said the move will re-brand the district.
“And we're honoring the Knoch family, who donated the land (for the district's schools),” Eakin said.
She also disagreed that any other entities would have to go to great lengths to change the name on their end.
“I don't think we're burdening other people with this,” Eakin said.
The change will officially take place on July 1, which is the first day of the district's fiscal year.
A public hearing was held before the school board meeting to take public comment on the name change, but no residents spoke.
