The school district’s 13th middle school is under construction on Westerleigh Parkway in the Matoaca District. Informally known as the west area middle school, it is scheduled to open in August 2025.
School Board policy 6160 gives the board the prerogative to name schools and identifies opportunities for public engagement in this process. Potential names for the new 1,800-student middle school were solicited from the public for two weeks in February, and 578 responses were submitted.
Students attending the new school are expected to come primarily from neighborhoods currently zoned for Tomahawk Creek Middle. Based on the recent practice of involving impacted school communities in the naming process, PTA leaders at Tomahawk Creek Middle reviewed the submitted names and helped narrow the list for School Board consideration to these:
Otterdale Middle School
Otterdale Branch Middle School
Otterdale Grove Middle School
Members of the public are able to provide input on the three potential names via this form.
The names of most schools that have opened in the past 20 years have geographic connections but not specific neighborhood names. This helps ensure all students feel connected to their school. One name suggested by multiple community members was Moseley. The committee did not move this suggestion forward because a new elementary school will soon be built next to the west area middle school and it will not be possible to name it Moseley Elementary because that name is already taken. (Moseley Elementary School opened in 2022 on Magnolia Green Parkway.) Having Moseley Middle next to an elementary school but not next to Moseley Elementary would cause confusion.
Another geographic name that the committee did not move forward is Otterdale Creek Middle School. Otterdale Branch is the correct name of the stream that some people refer to as Otterdale Creek. Information from the U.S. Geological Survey, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Chesterfield County GIS Parcel Viewer is clear: Otterdale Branch is the name of the stream that flows into Swift Creek Reservoir.
The committee appreciated the multiple suggestions to name the school for Tim Bullis, former communications director for Chesterfield County Public Schools famous for his snow day announcements. However, Tim died in 2023 so this suggestion does not meet the requirement of School Board policy 6160 that, absent extraordinary circumstances, schools cannot be named for living individuals and that any person for whom a school is named must have been dead at least 10 years.
Provide input on a name for the west area middle school through April 24, 2024.
