MONROE — The Monroe School Board turned to local history Monday night in naming a new school and renaming two others that will be reconfigured in 2005.

When the district opens its new $10.9 million elementary school on Fryelands Boulevard in September 2005, it will set in motion other changes as well.

Monroe Junior High School will become a middle school, while Frank Wagner Middle School will become an elementary school.

The district will return to a traditional grade format in which elementary schools serve kindergarten through fifth grades; middle schools serve sixth, seventh and eighth grades; and the high school serves ninth through 12th grades.

The new 500-student elementary school on Fryelands Boulevard will open as Fryelands Elementary School, a nod to the area’s historical identification.

The area is the site of the former Frye lettuce farm, which was owned and operated by Charles Frye during the Great Depression. The farm was the backbone of the local economy at the time, according to the Monroe Historical Society.

About 1,000 people worked on the farm’s 1,200 acres during peak harvest. Originally the Robinson lettuce farm, Frye bought most of it in a foreclosure sale in 1929, then lost it less than 10 years later to another foreclosure after a bad year for lettuce, according to the historical society.

"It’s going to be a community school, and the whole area is known as the Fryelands because of the Frye farm," said Tom MacIntyre, school board president. "It really defines the area."

The board also announced that Jeff Presley, an assistant principal at Monroe Middle School, will be principal of the new Fryelands Elementary.

The school district also turned back to city roots to rename Monroe Junior High School. It will become Park Place Middle School.

Park Place was the name of the heart of Monroe before a rail line was built about a mile away in the late 1800s. A post office there was moved closer to the rail line, and other buildings followed.

"The center of town was where the junior high campus is now located," said Rosemary O’Neil, a spokeswoman for the Monroe School District, noting that some businesses still carry the Park Place name. "So it remains consistent with that area of town."

Frank Wagner Middle School, which will be converted to an elementary school in September 2005, will be renamed Monroe Elementary School.

"When (Frank Wagner Middle School) was built, it was Monroe Elementary, so we just went back and kept the original name," MacIntyre said.

There is now one school at each level bearing the name of the city and the school district — Monroe Elementary School, Monroe Middle School and Monroe High School.

"I always kind of appreciate the identity with the community," MacIntyre said.

Regardless of the names, MacIntyre said he’s happiest about opening a new one.

"It’s more exciting, especially with the Fryelands, that this school is going to come into being," he said. "It’s been a long time in getting there. It’s been promised to that community, and they’re going to have their school."

Reporter Victor Balta: 425-339-3455 or vbalta@heraldnet.com.