Tracy Press

The new classroom building at Tracy High is still in search of a name, but publisher emeritus Sam Matthews thinks he's heard a winning proposition.

The new classroom building saw its first students Wednesday, but it's still in need of a name. Glenn Moore/Tracy Press

There was Superintendent Jim Franco standing at the entrance of the freshly striped (only hours earlier) parking lot, directing incoming cars that quickly filled the lot.

Inside, students began to find their way (through the back door) into the 12 classrooms on the ground floor that have been completed, while work continued on the 21 classrooms on the second floor.

As reports of the building’s impending completion have appeared in the Press, several former students living in far-off places have reopened the question of naming the new building after a person, principally a former teacher or administrator.

The issue — naming the building after a person — was pretty much resolved last year, when several surveys indicated most of those who responded preferred to keep it just Tracy High. They said smaller elements of the campus, such as the Hawley-Westlake Math-Science Building and the Wayne Schneider Stadium, are appropriately named after a person, but that the main classroom building shouldn’t carry the name of any single individual.

Nevertheless, hope of attaching a person’s name to the new building apparently springs eternal. Dale Upton, Tracy High Class of 1958, has written from Decatur, Ala., that he believes the name of a former Tracy High superintendent and principal, Wayne Crow, would be appropriate. Crow served as Tracy High’s top administrator from 1933 to 1962, a time when many of the present structures on the Tracy High campus were constructed. (In a year, many of those buildings will be history.)

Meanwhile, down in Los Angeles, Stephen Davanis, Class of 1976, believes that the building should bear the name of Ernest Poletti, the longtime speech instructor whose name was high among those advanced a year ago.

"No one teacher did as much for a student’s confidence than Ernie," Steve wrote.

Some facility on the Tracy High campus, possibly speech-related, will no doubt be named for Poletti, who died a couple of years ago — it won’t be the new building.

But alas, a third e-mail I received a few days ago might bear more fruit. It came from Erika Hillstead, a 2001 graduate of Tracy High who has returned to be a social science teacher.

Erika advances a name — but not that of a person — for the new building. She wrote, "If the district has not decided on a name, ‘El Portal’ is suitable, eloquent and inspirational."

As Tracy High students, past and present, know, El Portal is the name of the school’s yearbook. But as Erika pointed out, it also is Spanish for "the door," and the new building will certainly be the entry — the gateway, if you will — for students in their daily search of knowledge.

"The Spanish name ties together with the Spanish-style architecture of the new building," she added.

Hmmmmm.

I think Erika may have struck on something. I keep thinking that some kind of name will most certainly be tacked onto the new building to identify it on campus. It could turn out to be something mundane like "Building A" or "Main Classroom Building."

But the El Portal Building, for the reason Erika advanced, might do just fine. It avoids the name-it-for-a-person conundrum while focusing on the image that the building projects in several ways.

Nearly a half-century ago, what is now Monte Vista Middle School opened as El Portal Elementary School. But when the school became a middle school a few years later, the campus was renamed Monte Vista. Maybe it’s time for El Portal to make a comeback — and the new building at Tracy High just might be the appropriate place for that to occur. Any ideas?

• Sam Matthews, Tracy Press publisher emeritus, can be reached at 830-4234 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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written by L. Smith , August 16, 2008

Sounds like a great idea, I agree Sam, "El Portal" would make a good name for the "Old West Building."

Cheers from London;
Lawrance

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written by eyeswideopen2 , August 17, 2008

AS a former student, I vote that it be the "West Building", just as it has been for the last 40+ years.

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written by Opinionated , August 18, 2008

how about "the west building"?


its gonna take years for people to get used to a new name, so keep it the same as it has been for the last couple of generations.