Jan. 27, 2025 9p
(WGTD)---Racine Unified’s Red Apple Elementary will stay Red Apple.
On the recommendation of a committee, the Racine School Board voted Monday night to retain Red Apple as the school’s name when it moves to a new building on Center St. and adds middle school grades.
School board member Scott Coey came up with the idea of renaming the school after Laurel Clark, the Horlick High School grad who died in the Columbia space shuttle disaster in 2003. Coey’s idea seemed to garner initial support, which then faded as a school board committee started looking into the matter and gathering additional input. "I'm sorry--I just thought Laurel Clark's name was being forgotten in a place she called home," Coey said Monday night.
School board member Brian O’Connell was a member of the naming committee. "We were impressed by the history and the accomplishments of Red Apple and were concerned about losing its brand, its reputation," O'Connell said.
Red Apple was established as a ‘S.T.E.A.M" school in 1974.
Currently located at 914 St. Patrick, the school will open in new quarters at 1012 Center St. this fall under the district’s downsizing and modernization plan.
School board president Jane Barbian said Monday night the school board will study alternate ways to honor Clark in the new Red Apple.
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