Seguin ISD now accepting nominations
(Seguin) — The Seguin ISD does not want you to strike out on the opportunity to name Seguin High School’s new baseball and softball complex. The complex is being built on the south end of the high school campus along College Street. The district is giving the public an opportunity to throw out their nominations of names for both the baseball and softball fields or for parts of the complex.
Explaining the effort on behalf of the district is Emily Allen, the new director of communications for the Seguin ISD.
“Given the fact that this complex was approved under the 2023 bond by voters, this is the district’s opportunity to ask the community and those same voters what names they would like to see on different parts of this complex whether it’s the complex as a whole, potentially the concession stands, the field – it gives more opportunities to have different names on all parts of it and it gives people the chance to submit different things so the board members can consider several options potentially. That will be decided by the board, but the potential is there for several names to be added across parts of that complex,” said Allen.
According to the district, the complex or parts of it may be named for any person, living or deceased, and will have to be officially approved by the Seguin ISD Board of Trustees.
While the majority of trustees gave the okay to move forward with the nomination process, Trustee Ben Amador says he just couldn’t vote for the process at this time – citing not only the criteria but also feeling rushed with the process.
“I felt that by doing it this way, we have a deadline, and I don’t think we should have a deadline. I think we need to think about it and see who is nominated. And, there is another question. Supposing that the nominee is a live person and God forbid he does something bad before or after his building or stadium is named after him, what are we going to do? I’d rather do like most places where the nominated person is deceased at least for five or 10 years or so,” said Amador.
In choosing names, the board says it shall also consider the following criteria:
- The person’s contribution in the field of education
- The person’s unusual contribution to the civic life of the community, state, or nation.
- The esteem with which the people in the community, state or nation held the person
- A recommendation by an individual, family, or organization who has donated property or money for the construction of a school facility.
The voter-approved sports facility is currently under construction, with a planned release in January. Allen says securing names now helps in preparing the complex with details, including proper signage, etc.
“Making sure that we have a timeline so that we can have as many pieces in place as possible when this complex opens. So those are things that we will need to have clarified. I don’t have specifics on exactly how long certain things take to have those signs made so that part of it I’m not very sure of this moment. However, yes, that is part of the consideration,” said Allen.
Again, the district says each nomination should include a description of the “nominee’s contributions, why they are important and any pertinent history that should be considered.” Each nomination should also be no more than three pages long.
Staff, students, and the community may submit a nomination by Sept. 30, 2024 at 4:30 p.m. to sisd@seguin.k12.tx.us or via mail or in person at Seguin ISD Central Office, 1221 E. Kingsbury St., Seguin, TX 78155.
Following the Sept. 30 deadline, trustees will review nominations for consideration and possible approval at a future school board meeting.