Those darn Muggles.
The non-magic folks, as described in "Harry Potter" lore, have successfully muzzled a proposal to build a Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Provo.
Enchanted fans of the famed school will have to settle for reading about it in the library books of Provo City School District's newly named Spring Creek Elementary.
Sharon Emero, a teacher who served on a committee responsible for finding a moniker for the new school, said "Hogwart's" was a common suggestion for a name, especially among submissions scrawled with child-like penmanship.
"Hogwart's was eliminated right away," Emero said with a chuckle. "To kids, though, it was natural."
Spring Creek was named after a nearby stream, Emero said.
And it sounds better than Toadhead Elementary, Fault Line Elementary or Wonderful Elementary — all submissions received by Emero's group of parents, students and teachers.
Often, however, according to some Utah educators and parents, naming a new school demands a lot of public input — and can result in some controversy.
"It's a very hot issue because the school is going to have the name forever," said Melinda Colton, spokeswoman for Jordan District, which recently revised its school-naming policy.
School boards typically ask for suggestions from parents and students but cast the final vote.
Alpine District is very familiar with its school-naming process. Four new schools have been built in Alpine since 1998 — and more are being built. Alpine's policy requires the principal and parents to submit three recommendations to the school board after conducting a survey and holding public input meetings.
Unlike some Utah districts, which shy away from naming schools after people, Alpine's committees aren't restricted, although the final decision rests with the school board.
Most of the elementary schools in American Fork — Greenwood, Barratt, Forbes and Shelley — are named after early city settlers. "We ask if there are students coming in from different communities . . . that they not name it after the community," said Gary Seastrand, Alpine's assistant superintendent.
That's not the case in many districts.
More than a handful of schools bear the names of cities in which they are built. For example, there are Midvale, Goshen and Fountain Green elementaries, Tooele Junior High and Ogden High School.
There's no mistaking their locales.
Manila, however, is a different story.
Manila High School and Manila Elementary School are in Manila, Daggett County. But there's another Manila Elementary School — in Utah County's Pleasant Grove.
Folks in Sevier County's Monroe city and in West Valley City can say their children walk the sidewalks each morning to arrive at Monroe Elementary. And both are right.
Roosevelt Junior High and Roosevelt Middle School are both in that Duchesne County town. But Utah's two elementary schools bearing the presidential name are in Granite and Weber school districts.
"We get a lot of people who think our Granite Elementary is in the Granite district," said Jordan District's Colton.
None of the four Wasatch elementaries or one junior high are in Wasatch County. But Wasatch High School and Wasatch Mountain Junior High School are in the county.
The two Uintah elementaries are far from Uintah County. Uintah High, on the other hand, is in the obvious place.
A lot of schools also are named after parks, according to a statewide list of schools overseen by Utah's State Office of Education.
There's Academy Park in Granite, Nibley Park in Salt Lake City, three North Parks — in Box Elder, Cache and Weber districts —and Parley's Park in Park City.
Nebo has both a Park and Park View elementary school, although not at the same park.
Utahns are proud of nearby mountains, too.
In the 40 districts, there are four Mountain View elementaries and one middle school, and three Rocky Mountains, one in elementary, one junior high and one middle school. There are also Mountain Shadow, Mount View, Mount Loafer, Mount Mahogany, and Mt. Pleasant elementaries.
The state also has Mount Harmon, Mount Jordan, Mount Logan, Mount Ogden, Wasatch Mountain, Mountain Ridge and Mountain View middle and junior high schools, Mountain Crest and Mountain View high schools.
Provo has a Timpanogos Elementary and a Timpview High, named after the same peak. There are also a Viewmont elementary and high school in Murray and Davis districts.
Provo's Emero said many people wanted the new Provo school to be named Eagle Crest or Eagle View, but the committee realized other schools had already claimed an eagle as a mascot.
School days begin and end at Sunrises and Sunsets — there are two elementary schools of each name and one Sunset Junior High. One Provo elementary's name even celebrates a view of predusk — Sunset View.
Lots of schools boast unmistakably Utah names, too. Sego Lily Elementary in Alpine is named after the state flower. Beehive Elementary for — what else? — the Beehive State.
Three elementaries, a junior high and a high school bear the name Bonneville, the prehistoric lake that once covered much of the West.
Red Rock Elementary evokes images of Grand County cliffs.
Others pull their names from Utah people.
Nebo's spokeswoman Fran Larsen said the school board was recently approached by a group that wanted a school named after Icelandic settlers. The board took it under advisement.
Granite has 15 schools bearing a person's full name — more than any other school district. Monikers include former Hercules head Thomas Bacchus and Harry S. Truman, the 33rd U.S. president.
Some names are more obscure. Dilworth Elementary in Salt Lake City was named for Mary Jane Dilworth, Utah's first schoolteacher at the tender age of 17. The pioneer girl taught her first class in October 1847 in an Army tent in Old Fort, now known as Pioneer Square in downtown Salt Lake City.
Douglas T. Orchard Elementary in Granite was named for a Magna pharmacist shot and killed in a robbery about 25 years ago. Anna Smith Elementary in Tooele was named after the owner of State Line Casino, whose generosity brought a college education to several Wendover area students.
Several schools are named after superintendents: David Gourley and Calvin S. Smith in Granite, M. Lynn Bennion in Salt Lake City, Thomas O. Smith in Ogden.
Several are named for educators. Howard R. Driggs, who died in 1963, was a Granite educator, author and professor known as a preserver of the old West — and the school couldn't be happier that the school bears his name.
They have collected nearly all his books written for children, and they often receive calls from community members who have located rare titles.
E-MAIL: jtcook@desnews.com ; jeffh@desnews.com