Superintendent, Sue Cleveland

By GARY HERRON/OBSERVER STAFF REPORTER

A few months shy of groundbreaking, and a little more than two years from taking the field for its first football game, the new high school to be built in Rio Rancho has a name, nickname and colors. The name for the new high school is: Cleveland High School. The mascot name is the Storm. And new colors will be Carolina blue, black and silver.

The school, which will have its groundbreaking in May or June, according to its principal, Scott Affentranger, isn't honoring a former U.S. president or city on the shore of Lake Erie, it's being named in honor of the only superintendent the school district has ever had: Dr. V. Sue Cleveland.

It will be the fifth school in the district honoring a person: Lincoln Middle School, Ernest Stapleton Elementary, Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary and Maggie M. Cordova Elementary are the others. Lincoln and King were great Americans; Stapleton was a long-time educator in Albuquerque Public Schools, to which portions of RRPS once belonged; Cordova is a former Special Services executive director who lost her battle with cancer two years ago.

Affentranger told the board of education at its Monday meeting that he preferred the school has a unique nickname - there are too many Eagles, Tigers and Lions around the state, and a popular choice, the Chargers, is used at Albuquerque Academy.

Suffice it to say the Cleveland High Storm is a unique name, although finding a mascot will undoubtedly be tougher than sticking a student in an eagle costume.

"I don't know, but Storm seems kind of nebulous to me," noted board member Marty Scharfglass.

The Storm probably will be depicted on helmets, T-shirts, etc., by a lightning bolt emerging from a cloud.

"I think the whole thing (depicts) energy," Affentranger said.

A different nickname would have been chosen if Tami Pacheco's semi-pro soccer team, the New Mexico Storm, had gotten off to a successful start a few years ago; that franchise died because of a combination of lack of interest and financial backing.

According to "The Handbook of Mascots & Nicknames," two senior colleges and universities - Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio, and Simpson College in Indianola, Ind. - and five junior colleges and/or community colleges, of which four are on this side of the Mississippi River - have Storm as a nickname.

Cleveland High School wasn't among the original list of 46 possibilities for the new school, scheduled to open in time for the 2009-10 school year, although Storm was among 77 mascots nicknames considered.

A Sue Cleveland Elementary already exists, Cleveland said, which is located in Piedmont, S.C., and is not related to her.

On board since the district began in 1994, Cleveland was touted as "the heart and soul of this district" by board president Lisa Cour, whose absence last week prompted postponement of the decision on the name to this week.

"She is a hands-on superintendent," Cour added, and one who is "held in high esteem by her colleagues" and "an advocate for each and every student in this district."

Before the board got to the item on its agenda, former two-term board member Carl Harper suggested the new school should be named after Cleveland, and former Rio Rancho city councilor Tony Popper, who played a role in the formation of the district 13 years ago, echoed Harper's comments,

"I don't care about new city halls or arenas but I sure the heck care about schools," Popper said.

After a motion by Cour and a second by Scharfglass, a short discussion was held, when each board member lauded Cleveland for her work for the district.

Margaret Terry noted how the district has been through "good times and bad times" but Cleveland "always held your head high."

"This is very apropos in a million ways," board member Don Schlichte said, with Cour quipping to Cleveland, "I'm not going to ask for your recommendation" before the board voted unanimously for the name.

Visibly moved by the honor, and trying to hold back the tears - "I'm not a crier," she said - Cleveland thanked everyone in attendance, including her husband, James, and sons Royce and James Jr. Then she acknowledged, "There's no greater honor you can give an educator."

Cleveland's evaluation also "was very positive," when conducted in an executive session before the meeting. A contract needs to be agreed upon, Cour said.