Red Apple Elementary School in Racine may be getting a new name along with a grade expansion and new building, set to open in 2026.
Park High School alumni and current school board member Scott Coey came up with a proposal to rename the school in honor of Dr. Laurel Clark.
“I know name changes can be contentious, and people are very attached to them but who better deserving, for considering a STEAM school, than Laurel Clark,” Coey said.
Clark, a Horlick High School graduate, was a NASA astronaut, U.S. Navy Captain, surgeon, and recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.
Coey told TMJ4’s Tahleel Mohieldin he still remembers the tragic day his freshman year when Clark’s life was cut short. She was killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003.
Watch: Racine considers elementary school name change.
“My history teacher was like 'Did all of you know that there was a Racine graduate on there',” Coey recalled. “I’m like 'What are you talking about,' and he proceeds to teach me about Laurel Clark.”
Now Coey is hopeful that, with the name change, others will come to learn about her life and legacy and for local kids to take pride in it.
RUSD Board of Education President Jane Barbian said the board is currently in the process of gathering community feedback on the name change.
“If the community supports it we’re all for it,” Barbian said. “If the community—‘nope, not at this time,' then that’s something we will consider as well.”
She said of the roughly one thousand people who’ve participated in community surveys so far, the reception to the Dr. Laurel Clark name change has been positive.
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