New name coming for elementary school

This year will be the last time the school on Newburg Road will be known as South Fortuna Elementary. The name will change to Linell K. Walker Elementary School when classes start in the 2020-2021 school year.

The name change was mentioned several months ago at a celebration of life for Walker, who passed away in July 2019 at the age of 62. Walker worked for 25 years as the South Fortuna Elementary School secretary.

“She was truly the heart and soul of South Fortuna Elementary,” said Fortuna Elementary School District Superintendent Jeff Northern. “She was loved and respected by all who knew her, especially by those with whom she worked.”

Late last month, Northern sent an email to district staff informing them of the name change for the school.

“Officially, as far as the state is concerned, the name has already been changed,” Northern said, referring to the state Department of Education, which recently approved the name change request.

Last fall a citizen’s committee forwarded the name change request to the school’s Site Council, which unanimously approved it and forwarded the request to the school board. The school board approved the name change and forwarded the request to the State Department of Education.

“As the state was made aware that the proper procedures were followed in renaming a public school and that the new name falls within the category of what California schools can be named after, the state approved the name change request,” Northern said.

South Fortuna Elementary

the process of notifying the families of students about the name change.

“They decided it would be best to ease into the name change slowly,” Northern said, “as they felt it would

be a little too confusing for students to abruptly change the name in the middle of the school year.”

The change to school letterhead, official documents, and county and state correspondence will be completed during the summer months, when school is not in session.

“There will likely be an official ceremony once

the planned remodeling is completed at the school,” Northern said in the email. “I’m sure you’d all agree that Mrs. Walker was an exceptional, oneof-a-kind person who was very deserving of this honor.”

Northern said Walker was “amazingly efficient in her work” and was constantly

multitasking.

“In her 25 years of preparing annual reports for the school’s auditor regarding the accounting of breakfast and lunch programs, daily attendance, etc., not one time did the auditor find an accounting error,” Northern said. “That was an incredible accomplishment.”