Ehrman Crest will be the name adorning the new Seneca Valley School District K-6 school in Cranberry Township.

Seneca Valley directors voted unanimously Monday night to adopt Ehrman Crest as the new school's name with little discussion beyond board president Eric DiTullio reiterating his support for the name, given it will share initials with Evans City Elementary School, the K-6 school it will replace when it opens.

With “Ehrman Crest, we get to keep the ECE (initials), it's going to be wonderful,” DiTullio said.

The Ehrman Crest name was the most popular choice among Seneca Valley community members, who were asked by the district in March to rank their three favorite name suggestions out of five. In that voting system, a first-choice name received three “points,” the second choice two points, the third choice one point and the remaining names received zero.

With more than 2,600 ballots cast, Ehrman Crest received 4,413 points; Wolfe Creek 3,748; Hilltop 3,023; and Oak Crest 2,855.

When the new school opens, currently slated for the 2022-23 school year, it will be the culmination of years of work by the school district, which selected the Ehrman Road site in 2018 and received approval to build from the Cranberry Board of Supervisors in December 2019.

As the building will house both an elementary and middle school, it will be divided into two wings in the approximate shape of a letter “V”; elementary students will learn in one wing, and middle schoolers will attend classes in the other. The building will be nearly 200,000 square feet, with a maximum building cost of more than $60 million and a maximum total project cost nearing $79 million.

Ehrman Crest wasn't the only name discussed Monday.Following a lengthy presentation by students April 12 about whether action should be taken to change the “Raider” name and related Native American-associated imagery, one resident stood up Monday in opposition to any changes to the name.Tom Nesbitt, of the Zelienople Historical Society, who wrote “Zelienople,” an Images of America series featuring the photographic history of the borough, said he was part of the original group of students from Evans City and Zelienople high schools who chose the name Seneca Valley and the Raider iconography.Nesbitt said the two student bodies were split evenly on naming the new school Seneca High School and Valley High School, and combined the names to form Seneca Valley. He added the Raiders name was the students' second choice after “Indians,” which the students eschewed because another nearby school district was already using that name. Nesbitt said the students wanted that name because teachers had informed them of Native American camps located north of the Connoquenessing Creek.“As someone who voted on the names, I'd like to see them remain the same,” Nesbitt said. “I know there's been some discussion about changing the name, but I think from an historical perspective it would be nice to keep them.”And Nesbitt isn't alone. An online petition to keep the mascot, purportedly started by an anonymous Seneca Valley student, has amassed more than 4,500 signatures.The students' presentation April 12 centered around the changing manner in which Native Americans view sports teams using indigenous peoples' names, likeness and associated terms for team names and logos.While a Seneca chief was present at and blessed the groundbreaking of the school in the 1960s, the students said, the use of the Raider name and logo has been called out by the Seneca Nation of Indians as offensive.While not taking a public stance on either position, superintendent Tracy Vitale thanked Nesbitt for the “respectful manner” in which he presented his argument to the board.“For some reason, children are learning from adults that we can be rude, and we can be disparaging, and that that's OK,” Vitale said. “And you've come to us in such a respectful, humble manner. I just want to thank you for that.”<em>Editors Note :An earlier version of this story incorrectly omitted a word in a quote from Tracy Vitale, Seneca Valley School District superintendent.</em>