WCDC Renaming Process

 
At its August 23, 2022 meeting, the Board of Education directed AUSD staff to review WCDC’s name. Board members expressed interest in naming the school after  Ardella Dailey, the former WCDC director who also worked as a principal, administrator, superintendent, and board member in AUSD.

 AUSD Board Policy 7310 clearly sets out the steps that need to be taken to ensure all voices are heard and all options considered while considering the re-naming of an AUSD facility.

The first step was to engage families and staff at the site to discuss the current name.

AUSD organized three meetings to talk about the process and review the current name with the WCDC community.  Staff also passed out flyers and talked to families at WCDC to engage them more directly.

Based on these conversations and a review of the relevance of the current name, at the September 9 Board meeting, the Superintendent recommended moving to the second step:  initiating the actual re-naming process. 

During this phase:

• A re-naming committee was convened
• Community meetings were organized to solicit and review potential names
• A survey, translated into four languages, was sent to the WCDC community so that they could submit potential new names.
• Two names were suggested:
  • Alameda Child Development Center
  • Dr. Ardella Dailey Development Center
• A second survey/ballot, in four languages, was provided to WCDC families, staff, and neighbors, as well as to elementary-aged students enrolled in WCDC’s afterschool program. That survey gave them an opportunity to vote on the two suggested names.
• The committee recommended naming WCDC the “Alameda Child Development Center” and naming the special education preschool program the “Dr. Ardella Dailey Preschool Program.”
• The Superintendent recommended that name to the Board at its October 11 meeting. 

Under Board Policy 7310, the next step was to open a public comment period for 60 days (through December 10.) During this time, the public was encouraged to share their opinions on the new names via email or during the public comment period of Board of Education meetings.  

The Board voted unanimously on the name change at its December 13, 2022 public meeting.