SAND SPRINGS — The Sand Springs Board of Education recently approved the name change from Clyde Boyd Middle School to Sand Springs Middle School as part of a rebranding effort by the school district.
In 2024, Sand Springs voters approved a $114.5 million bond proposal that included replacing the aging Clyde Boyd Middle School with a new two-story building that’s being erected on the same site just north of Clyde Boyd.
Superintendent Sherry Durkee cited the need for Sand Springs students to be recognized as belonging to Sand Springs when they leave the city for competitions or other purposes.
Clyde Boyd, a longtime Sand Springs educator, retired in 1968 after nearly 30 years as superintendent.
“I don’t want to minimize our history at all,” Durkee said. “That’s not the point. The point is clarity – for people to know who Sand Springs is. “Clyde Boyd students go to an academic competition or a sports competition (outside of Sand Springs) and wear jerseys that say Clyde Boyd, and the first question I get is, ‘Where are you from?” So, I hope that we can honor Clyde Boyd – known as Pop Boyd at the time – while at the same time branding our school in a way that makes sense for recognition outside of Sand Springs.”
Mark Boyd – the grandson of Clyde “Pop” Boyd Sr., the middle school’s namesake for 50 years addressed the BOE.
“I know the branding challenge that we all have in this community with the name Charles Page. But we sure wouldn’t touch that name. Charles Page is part of our community, just like my grandfather was part of this community,” he said. “I’m proud of Sand Springs. I call myself a Sand Springs alumni every opportunity I have.”
Boyd told the Board to have serious consideration on maintaining his grandfather’s legacy.
“And I just want you guys to have a serious consideration, serious discussion, and do what you can to maintain my grandfather’s name,” he said. “ I just want to make sure for my children, for my grandchildren, for my greatgrandchildren that his legacy is maintained in this community because he was extremely important to this community and to the education system that we now have.”
Durkee revealed a rendering from the district’s architect, Ethos Architects, showing what the middle school’s sports facilities – the two gymnasiums on the west end of the site – could look like as the rebranded Clyde Boyd Sports Complex.
Those gymnasiums, as well as the auditorium on the east end, are the only pieces of the former Clyde Boyd building that will remain.
“We’ve been planning this – or just conceptualizing this – for a long time,” Durkee said. “There are a lot of historical markers at Clyde Boyd Middle School because the school’s been built onto four or five times. And so, with each of those renditions, new editions, comes a plaque that states the history – who was superintendent at the time and who the board members were at the time.”
Durkee told the Board she asked Ethos not only to keep Clyde Boyd’s name on the sports complex, but also Thurman Garrett Auditorium will remain in that auditorium in new paint, new letters.
“And at the same time, I'm asking Ethos to come up with a way to keep history, a reflection of the history of that facility,” Durkee said. “So, never is it or would it ever be in our intention to minimize the importance of a person like Clyde Boyd that did do those great things, but at the same time, brand ourselves so that around the community, around the state, where we do get out of Sand Springs to compete, we're known as Sand Springs, that brand of Sand Springs.”
Durkee said the Oklahoma State Board of Education will need to be notified of the name change, and that notification is required to take place before classes begin on Aug. 20.