SOUTH DEERFIELD – Citing precedent set last year, the Frontier School Committee declined to dedicate its volleyball court to longtime coach Sean MacDonald, who retired after the 2023-24 school year, capping off 21 years and a whole slew of sectional and state titles at the school.

In a brief remote meeting dedicated to the topic Tuesday night, the School Committee wrestled with the prospect of naming the volleyball court after MacDonald. Its members struggled with naming conventions used in the past, as the school’s gymnasium and track have both already been named for previous coaches and teachers at the school.

The Committee voted ‘no’ on the motion to dedicate the court via a 7-1 margin, with one abstention.

MacDonald won 11 state titles and 18 Western Mass. championships with the girls volleyball program during his tenure. He also took the boys program, which was formed in 2022, to a pair of sectional titles.

It was the teaching aspect that tripped up the majority of the committee’s members. Long-term education careers alongside distinguished coaching records are the common thread tying the Coach Bob Smith and Coach Walt Flynn Track, and Goodnow Gymnasium, which is named for the late Vi Goodnow.

“Education truly is our mission for all of us,” said member William Smith. “All of those people had a profound impact on students’ lives because they were all teachers. I’m not in any way trying to diminish what Sean’s accomplished.”

“It sounds like it’s straightforward: you had this coach who had an amazing run, 11 state championships is not going to be repeated anytime soon,” added Superintendent Darius Modestow, noting that it’s hard to “un-name something.”

“We’ve had other educators dedicate their entire lives to the community,” Modestow added.

The School Committee has a policy for naming facilities, although it does not lay out any explicit situations in which the committee should accept or deny requests. Rather, it states “naming a school facility is an important matter that deserves thoughtful attention” and that “the wishes of the community, including parents and students, should be considered in naming school facilities.”

A similar matter, which set the precedent for Tuesday’s discussion, came before the School Committee in February 2023, when Frontier baseball coach Chris Williams came before the committee to request a memorial plaque for Richard Walton, a volunteer coach who dedicated more than a dozen years to two of Frontier’s teams.

In the case of Walton, the Committee denied Williams’ request, as they worried creating one plaque would open up the door to numerous requests from teachers and other longtime staff – although it was not an easy decision, as many committee members said they knew Walton and his impact on the community, with Smith saying, “That doesn’t feel good,” after the vote.

Instead of a plaque, committee members suggested naming a team award after Walton or creating a scholarship fund bearing his name. That suggestion came up again Tuesday evening.

School Committee Chair Missy Novak Tuesday night said it would be best to have “consistency in following our own policy and being able to back that up.”

“We’ve had athletes break state records … some are recognized and some are not. It’s something we have to work on,” Modestow added. “It’s a good problem to have, in a sense, we have great people.”

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.