DRIPPING SPRINGS — Elementary #6 within Dripping Springs ISD will officially be named Wildwood Springs Elementary.
This follows a 5-1 vote on second reading by the DSISD Board of Trustees at its Monday, Jan. 27, meeting, with trustee Kim Cousins being the dissenting vote. This also comes after the board approved, in December 2024, the new elementary and middle school attendance zones that will go into effect beginning with the 2025-26 school year, incorporating Elementary #6 that is currently under construction in the Headwaters neighborhood, in addition to the expansion of Sycamore Springs Middle School from 850 to a 1,200 student capacity.
In the fall of 2024, DSISD convened a Name Recommendation Committee — composed of students, community members, parents and district staff — to recommend a list of names for the board to consider for the new elementary school. Members of the committee presented an overview of the committee’s work, along with their recommendation at the December board meeting.
There was also a community survey related to the naming process that garnered 2,139 responses. Key takeaways from the survey included:
• 91% felt it was at least somewhat important to keep the DSISD tradition of naming schools after area springs
• 42% felt it was very important that the schools be named for real, existing springs. In addition, 40% preferred that schools be named for real, existing springs, but said it was not that important
• Emerald Springs received the highest number of community votes with 421
• Wildwood Springs ranked second on the survey with 358
• Other names in the top five were Bell Springs (346), Kirby Springs (236) and Cherry Springs (213) The committee, in an 8-5 vote, chose Emerald Springs as its top choice.
Currently, all DSISD campuses are named after existing springs in the Dripping Springs area, including Cypress Springs, which is located just outside the district’s boundaries. According to Executive Director of Communications Jennifer Edwards, several community members want that tradition to remain alive as much as possible.
“The community did feel pretty strongly that tradition stay[s] or they feel like it’s important or somewhat important. They like that tradition and they want to keep that tradition, but not everybody felt like it was real important that the springs be real,” Edwards explained. “I think there’s some wiggle room there.”
The policy states that the committee would just present a list of three names. However, Edwards explained that she did ask them what their recommendation would be.
The committee’s final recommended names were Emerald Springs (top choice), Bluebonnet Springs and Wildwood Springs.
Moving into the board discussion, trustee Shanda DeLeon said that she has been having multiple conversations in the community about the Elementary #6 name and from the feedback that she has personally received, Emerald Springs is not super well-received.
“One friend actually said, ‘...it just reads Wizard of Oz’ and she said, ‘Maybe it’s because Wicked is so big right now’ and I thought, ‘That probably is why.’ But I don’t know if it’s because of that, but several people have talked to me and said, ‘It just reminds me of the Wizard of Oz,’” DeLeon said.
The trustee added that if a middle school were to be on that site — similar to what has already happened previously in the district with Sycamore Springs — then Wildwood Springs would be a good choice for that.
Cousins said that 2,139 responses from the community survey is a big number. She also stated that, looking at the committee’s process, both Table 1 and Table 2 recommended Emerald Springs as their top choice. Also, when Cypress Springs was waiting on getting its name, Emerald Springs was within that mix as well.
“It’s a name that’s been kind of floating around, but I am just one of those that really kind of leans towards the hours and the hours that those community groups put in … It’s time that they take away from their families to take part in something that is really different,” Cousins said. “I like a lot of these names, I mean, I really do, but I want to also publicly say that I value the work of committees that do their best to come together and make recommendations in this district and I really want to listen to what they have to say.”
Trustee Olivia Barnard said that she leaned more toward what the committee suggested: “I am going to go with what the majority of the will of the board is, but for me, for this one, I lean towards Emerald for the same purpose, just to me, I thought the same thing on the data. That’s a lot of people to actually respond.”
Trustee Rob McClelland said that he can see both Emerald Springs and Wildwood Springs as good names for the elementary school. But he stated that what would lean him more toward Wildwood Springs is, similarly to DeLeon’s sentiments, that the district has in its master plan to co-locate elementary and middle school campuses.
Barnard motioned to name Elementary #6 as Wildwood Springs Elementary and McClelland seconded. The board voted 5-1 in approval, with Cousins voting against.
To listen to the full discussion, visit www.dsisdtx.us/page/board-meetinglivestream. The DSISD Board of Trustees meets next at 6 p.m. on Feb. 18.
