PUHSD Board approves name Liberty for new high school

Architectural designs released in 2014 show the modern plans for what has now been named Liberty High School.

Its construction timeline is impacted by a bond measure and it's uncertain which school district it will end up in, but at least the new high school planned just outside the east border of Menifee now has a name.

Liberty High School was the name approved by a 4-1 vote of the Perris Union High School Board of Trustees from among the top three recommendations of a naming committee at the PUHSD board meeting on Wednesday. That name was actually the third most popular name among committee members from among the 305 submissions it received.

Board members made the decision after listening to the facilitator of the committee as well as two committee members who said they favored Liberty High School over the other two top choices -- Menifee High School and Menifee Hills High School.

"I felt like it (the recommendations by committee members) was heavily on the Menifee side," said Kim Friberg, an officer with the Perris Secondary Educators Association and a teacher at Paloma Valley High School. "I feel like a lot of people in Menifee find the bond measure and the issue of unification confusing, and they believe if they get a high school, it's a Menifee high school.

"I believe it will be confusing the voters in Menifee if we name the high school with the name Menifee in it. I feel the name Liberty is a neutral school name. And it goes along with Heritage on the other side of town."

Helen Stimach, an officer with the California School Employees Association and another member of the committee, said the name Menifee should be reserved for a fifth PUHSD high school, which will come a few more years down the road. She pointed out that the site purchased for Liberty High at Leon Road and Wickerd Road is actually in unincorporated county territory, not the City of Menifee.

"People who live in the City of Menifee realize there has to be a fifth high school coming," Stimach said. "It has to, because of the population growth. Eventually, another high school will be built more centrally located in Menifee and can have the Menifee name."

District policy dictates that schools should be named for geographical or historical significance, not after an individual.

"There was no clear-cut winner," said Dr. Fred Good, facilitator for the naming committee. "One thing became obvious -- there was a strong bias to have Menifee in the name. But continuing to have some kind of historical perspective led to one of the other names. There was a lot of good discussion about Liberty and how it represents something similar to Heritage."

The 12-member naming committee, which was designed to have representation from throughout the PUHSD boundaries, included the following:

Monica Campos, Heritage High School student
Marizel Carin, Paloma Valley High School student
Ulises Delrosario, Perris High School student
Randy Freeman, Menifee Union School District board member
Kim Friberg, PSEA representative
Erick Kroencke, City of Menifee
Joshua Naggar, City of Perris
David Nelissen, PUHSD board member
Helen Stimach, CSEA representative
Ron Ulibarri, MUSD board member
Bill Zimmerman, Menifee Valley Historical Association
Grant Bennett, PUHSD superintendent

"I think it represents one of the cornerstones of our society," said Dr. Jose Luis Araux, president of the PUHSD board. "There will be another opportunity for a high school to be named Menifee."

Only half of the estimated $160 million cost of constructing Liberty High School is available. That was raised through Measure T, passed by voters in 2012. At the time, plans were for the state to provide matching funds. Those funds have not been made available, and PUHSD is on a long waiting list. Thus the PUHSD board authorized the placement of Measure W on the November ballot. It is a $148 bond measure, with half that amount planned to pay for the remainder of the high school construction funds and the other half going to pay for improvements at Perris High School.

If Measure W passes, the timeline calls for construction to begin in February 2019 with the school opening in August 2021.

Another issue is the Menifee Union School District's efforts to unify and take control of Liberty High School and Paloma Valley High School. Although a separate issue, that is closely related to the bond measure and is an issue that is still being discussed by both districts.