Meet Tambark Creek. Everett has a new kid on the block

MILL CREEK — In the beginning, there were 141 possibilities.

One thing was certain: Everett’s newest campus would need a better name than Elementary School 18, which was a drab but accurate description.

So the school district reached out to families of students attending neighboring Cedar Wood, Forest View and Woodside elementary schools for suggestions. The postcards asked for online submissions. Others outside those neighborhoods also were invited to offer up some ideas.

An advisory committee narrowed the list to eight names, discarding the likes of Moose Tracks (a popular ice cream variety) and Schooly McSchool Face. The district had students at the three schools vote for their favorite name.

The Everett School Board was the final arbiter.

And the district’s newest addition will be called Tambark Creek Elementary School, which is scheduled to open in fall 2019.

“In the end, the board felt Tambark Creek Elementary was the best representation for our new school,” said Carol Andrews, the board’s newly appointed president. “The school overlooks Tambark Creek and Tambark Creek County Park. It keeps the focus on the surrounding geography and will help students remember conservation as they learn about the wetlands on the school site.”

Construction is moving quickly. The campus will be home to an 83,000-square-foot, two-story building that will include 30 classrooms. The estimated project cost is $43.9 million, which comes from a 2016 voter-approved capital bond.

Tambark Creek Elementary will be a relief valve, reducing overcrowding in the fast-growing south end of the district. The school will accommodate 600 students, kindergarten through fifth grade, and employ 60 faculty and learning support staff.

Celia O’Connor Weaver will be the school’s first principal. She is now principal at Hawthorne Elementary in the district’s north end. She said the Tambark Creek Elementary community will help choose the school’s colors and mascot next fall.

“I am sure our students will have great ideas,” she said.

Students and families in the Everett School District weren’t the only ones thinking Tambark would make a good name.

A few years back, Tambark was on the lips of some Northshore School District residents.

Everett’s south end and Northshore’s north end overlap neighborhoods.

Tambark became one of the finalist names in the Northshore district for what eventually became North Creek High School.

The other finalist names for Everett’s 18th elementary school included Emma Yule Elementary (Everett’s first teacher), Meadow Ridge Elementary, Paul Allen Elementary, Pioneer Elementary, Sunset Hill Elementary, Whispering Firs Elementary and Willow Elementary.

Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.