Bye, Bye 'Shamrock' Middle, Hello, 'Druid Hills'

When Lisa Gordon first approached Don McChesney about changing 's name, the DeKalb County Board of Education member said his initial impulse was to sharply question.

After all, he used to teach at the school back when it was Shamrock High. It became a middle school in 1996.

"The first thing [Gordon] told me when we met at Starbucks was, 'Please don't tell me it can't be done,'" McChesney said. "When I first heard it come out of her mouth, I said, 'Hold on a minute. I kind of want to preserve Shamrock.'"

But as Gordon, co-president of Shamrock Middle's PTA, explained her and other PTA members' and teachers' rationale, McChesney said he warmed to the idea. Since the school's students stopped attending in 2004, Shamrock Middle's identity was solidly connected to the only high school its students now feed into – Druid Hills High – and it was time to let the Shamrock name fade into the past.

Now, following a Dec. 6 school board vote, the name is changing. Starting in July, Shamrock Middle will be called Druid Hills Middle School.

"We think it's going to be a really wonderful and positive thing for the school," Gordon said. "This is a celebration of a school that is doing really well."

The school system has a policy that all school officials get permission from the central office to speak with media, and, as of press time, Shamrock Middle Principal Robert Thorpe said he was waiting to hear back from the system's public relations staff before commenting on the name change to Patch.

Among the reasons for changing the name:

• Shamrock Middle graduating classes used to split and attend both Lakeside and Druid Hills high schools. That changed in 2004 with Shamrock Middle feeding only to Druid Hills High.
• Shamrock Middle followed Druid Hills High's lead in 2008 and became an International Baccalaureate school. Statewide, it's rare for a middle school and its high school to both be IB schools, Gordon said, and that relationship was obscured since the schools had different names.
• The Druid Hills High School Athletic Association was created in 2007, in part, to build Druid Hills High spirit at Shamrock Middle. Some Shamrock Middle teachers even coach at the high school. Sharing the same name will help solidify that relationship.
• Some Shamrock Middle athletic teams have already adopted the Druid Hills name, and making it official would allow the high school to pass down old uniforms and equipment with its red and black colors.
• Eleven of the school system's 18 middle schools share the name of the high school into which they feed.

Plus, Shamrock Middle is scheduled for $2.1 million in renovations this year – part of an ongoing effort to complete its physical conversion from a high school to a middle school, Gordon said. If the school was to change its name – including its colors – now is the most cost-effective time as the renovations include painting and locker replacement, among other things.

"I used to say the school had a bit of an identity crisis," she said. "I think it was just kind of a natural evolution."

Many alumni members of the old high school hold the Shamrock legacy dear, however. So, the school is hanging onto one piece of its past, Gordon said: its mascot. Druid Hills Middle will still be known as the home of the dragon.

"We did not want to do anything in any way shape or form but positively portray the high school," she said. "We really wanted to do that for the alumni who really wanted it to stay dragons."

The board voted 8-0 to approve the name change.

"The research was outstanding," board member Gene Walker said. "We didn't have any great outcry from the community."