On April 6, voters will choose board members in Consolidated School District Nos. 1, 2 and 4.
That's Hickman Mills, Raytown and Grandview for those who prefer plain English.
Out of dumb habit, a number of school districts in the area continue to use the numbers they were assigned at a time when public education began to shift from one-room schoolhouses to the system we know today. Consolidated School District No. 1 -- what Earth people know as Hickman Mills -- came into being in 1902.
The practice endures in spite of its obvious archaism. In fact, the words "Hickman Mills," "Raytown," and "Grandview" will not appear on the ballots in the upcoming election, according to a Kansas City Board of Elections sample. Shelley McThomas, the Democratic director at the Board of Elections, says the ballots merely reflect the language that was provided to them.
So why do some districts use the numeric designations, even though they seem Sovietistic and dehumanizing? "That's the way it's always been done," says John Baccala, a spokesman for the Hickman Mills district.
Baccala says the people are accustomed to the seeing the district referred to as CSD No. 1. But Jim Morris, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Elementary & Secondary Education, says the droid-sounding names can create confusion, especially for residents who may be new to a district. Morris calls designations like CSD No. 1 "historical artifacts."
Grandview's liberal use of "C-4" is justified somewhat by the existence of a school district in the eastern part of the state also named Grandview. But such concerns seem rare. Morris notes that school district officials in Springfield and Columbia have cast aside their serial numbers (R-XII and 33, respectively) in recognition of their antiquity.
Raytown school officials grasp the importance of branding but only to a point. In a move that Karl Rove would endorse, the district began referring to itself as "Raytown Quality Schools" several years ago. Yet "C-2" still appears on the district's buses and in other materials. And in a few weeks, voters who live in the district should know that Bobbie Saulsberry, Rick Thode and Nancy Eyerly want a chance to govern the local K-12 schools, not a community college or a politburo.
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