For students trying to get their name changed in the school system, the process is much simpler than they may think. 

The first step is to approach somebody in the school you trust and tell them they want to get their name changed. 

“Usually the person [the student talks to] is already aware of their situation, so it’s very easy for them to go up and say ‘hey Mr. or Mrs. So and So, I’m ready for my name to be changed,” vice principal, Luman Strong said.

The next part in the process is making the parents aware that their name is going to be changed. They don’t necessarily need permission from a parent, but they need the parent to be aware of it so that they aren’t surprised with the school when they see it in PowerSchool. 

“It’s kind of a difficult dance because we want to be very clear to what the students preferring, but we also have to work with parents because parents are in the equation, they’re part of the family,” Dr. Strong said. “We haven’t really run into a situation yet where a student wants a name change and the parents don’t, but we do have to include both Parents and students.”

According to Strong, the process only takes a couple minutes in PowerSchool once the trusted person has come to him and told him that the student is requesting their name to be changed. The process leading up to it takes a little bit longer because the student will need to have had multiple conversations with the person to make sure this is the name they want to commit to, but that may even only take a couple days. 

“This is a big decision for kids who want to do this, and naturally we want to support them,” Strong said.