Name for new Pacific Highlands Ranch school to be picked on May 26

The Del Mar Union School District is close to naming its new school in Pacific Highlands Ranch. The top three names for the new school were narrowed down to: Pacific Highland (no “s”), Pacific Canyon and Pacific Del Mar.

While the name was expected to be finalized last month, due to the meeting stretching late into the evening, the naming decision was continued to the Wednesday, May 26 board meeting.

The district opened up the naming process to the community in April and received 97 suggestions during the public input window. Possibilities proposed included East Highlands, Canyon Trails, Flower Valley and Lupine Canyon. There were lots of Carmels and Pacifics in addition to names like Barrack Obama, Donald Trump, Ruth Bader Ginsberg and even a suggestion for Gee Wah Mok. Mok laughed off the suggestion at the April meeting.

Per board policy on the naming of facilities, “the name should be sufficiently different from existing school names in the district and in the neighboring school district to avoid confusion to members of the community.” The district is already home to several Del Mars (Carmel Del Mar, Del Mar Heights, Del Mar Hills), two Hills (Torrey and Del Mar) and a Canyon (Sage). Across the street is Solana Beach School District’s Solana Ranch Elementary and down the road is San Dieguito’s Canyon Crest Academy and Pacific Trails Middle.

The groundbreaking for the not-yet-named school on Solterra Vista Parkway and Terrazo Court is expected to be held by June this year with August 2022 as the target opening date.