The board approved naming both schools after persons associated with education in the district following community meetings and an online public suggestion process. More than 80 names were submitted for the two campuses.
Florence W. Stiles served LISD for 19 years as a second grade teacher, according to submissions received by the district. She was actively involved in the Parent Teacher Association at Ada Mae Elementary and also worked on curriculum. She graduated a LISD salutatorian in 1945 and has had three generations of family attend the district, according to the documentation the district received in the submission process.
Veronica Sopher, LISD executive director of school and community relations, said the League of United Latin American Citizens was actively involved in promoting Stiles as the namesake for Middle School No. 8. An anonymous name nomination described Stiles as “steadfast, responsible and dependable.”
Superintendent Bret Champion said he recently spoke with Stiles, who still resides in Leander.
Officer Leonard A. Reed was a member of the Cedar Park Police Department and served as a school resource officer at Vista Ridge High School until 2008. He died in an on-duty motorcycle accident on Aug. 18, 2010.
Among dozens of other written nominations, Cedar Park City Councilman Matt Powell said he supported naming Elementary School No. 24 for the fallen officer because of his commitment to students.
“My focus on having the elementary school named for him is because he was a very highly regarded school resource officer,” Powell said in a January 2012 interview. “I thought it most appropriate to seek to have a school in Cedar Park named for Officer Reed.”
In a February 2011 letter to Powell, Cedar Park Police Chief Henry Fluck described Reed.
“He effectively mentored, encouraged and motivated students, bringing out the very best in them,” the letter read.
School board members discussed several possible names for both campuses, including local notables Edward Burleson, Eva Jean Waley and Jay Landon Sevier. School board President Will Streit said he favored naming the schools after people with associations with education.
“It’s a good problem to have, that we live in a community where so many suggestions were brought forth,” he said.
Sopher said the board followed policy in choosing names significant to education and the district. Executive Director of Capital Improvements Jimmy Disler said the district will begin working on monuments and signage at the campuses.
At the meeting, the school board also approved the purchase of new band uniforms for Vista Ridge High School at an estimated cost of $77,000. The unused funding was budgeted last fiscal year and set aside for future use, according to district documents.
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