The Mossyrock School District will hold a workshop sometime in the coming months to discuss ways it can honor longtime educator and former Lewis County commissioner Gary Stamper and other former district employees.
Stamper, a Mossyrock resident and former Mossyrock High School girls’ basketball coach and educator, died after a five-week battle with COVID-19 last fall. He was serving as the District 3 representative on the Lewis County Board of Commissioners at the time.
The Mossyrock School District Board of Directors recently received a request to rename the high school basketball courts or the high school gymnasium in memory of Stamper. To gauge community interest in fulfilling that request, the district launched an online survey on March 13.
“People that responded to the survey were very positive,” said Mossyrock Superintendent Larry Markuson.
However, the district also received a lot of phone calls from people who were against the proposal.
“Some were for it,” Markuson clarified, adding that callers were primarily upset about the survey only being available online.
Part of the reason for holding a workshop is so the board can explore options for better-engaging the whole Mossyrock community, Markuson said.
While the initial request was limited to honoring Stamper, Markuson said there is interest in establishing a way to honor not just Stamper, but other notable former district employees as well.
Options include setting up a protocol for renaming buildings and other areas of the school campus, or establishing a wall of fame.
The discussion at the workshop will focus on “what other options do we have and how can we reach out to our community,” Markuson said.
The workshop has not yet been scheduled.
