A name has been proposed for the Carmel Clay Schools campus coming to the west side of town: Clay Center Elementary School.
At a Dec. 16 school board meeting, Supt. Michael Beresford introduced a resolution recommending the new name and explained its choice.
“On Nov. 14 at a workshop session for the board, we had a nice presentation on the early history of Carmel Clay Schools, written by A.J. Wright with the Carmel Clay Historical Society,” Beresford said. “His research found that on Sept. 25, 1912, Clay Township opened a new brick school on the northeast corner of 116th Street and Clay Center Road. The school was named Clay Center and had four classrooms on the main floor, and then it had a large assembly room on the second floor. The location was just south of where our new elementary school is being built.”
The board will vote on the proposal at a future meeting, but Beresford said once the name has been decided, the district will begin working through the process of registering the new building with the Indiana Dept. of Education.
“We’ll get a school number assigned, and we’ll start thinking about mascots and colors and involve students and the community with that,” he said. “It’ll be a lot of fun forthcoming.”
Construction on the $34 million school will begin as soon as weather permits. It is set to open in fall 2021.