SOUTH HADLEY — After three years of discussion and fundraising, Plains Elementary School will officially change its name to Henry J. Skala School to honor of the school’s late principal.

The school’s Parent Teacher Organization has raised about $4,500 since last year for the signs with the new name, and member Megan Bartlett said three electricians have volunteered their time to install lighting for the signs.

With the funding in place, the School Committee moved forward with finalizing the name during its Jan. 30 and Feb. 6 meetings.

“I’m just partial to Henry J Skala School,” School Committee member Danielle Cooke told the committee. “I think that’s what they’re going to shorten it to, you don’t need a mouth full of elementary, or early-ed or anything else.”

Cooke has spearheaded the name change since February 2023 and has written letters to the Gazette highlighting the late principal’s role in creating a welcoming, positive and warm environment for teachers and students. She hopes the new signs and name will stand on the building in time for the three-year anniversary of Skala’s death.

Cooke told the committee during the Jan. 30 School Committee meeting that Skala was the first principal at the new Plains Elementary School Building built in 2015, and he made the building his own.

“I’m bummed that it’s taken three years because now there’s been a whole cohort of students who have move through Plains without knowing Hank, and I wish we could have had his name on the building for them to have had a nod to,” she continued.

Skala, who went by “Hank,” was named the principal of Plains Elementary in 2016, and died in April 2022 after falling ill in February of that year. He was 69 years old. During his more than six-year tenure at Plains, the East Longmeadow resident had quite an impact on the school district with many students, teachers and parents referring to Skala as a “beloved” administrator.

The School Committee initially considered renaming the building “Henry J. Skala Elementary School” or “Henry J. Skala Early Learning Center,” but found the names wordy.

Interim Superintendent Mark McLaughlin said he would formalize the name change at the state level, and inform the Planning and Conservation Department to order new signs.

“There might be a little period of time where there is a little bit of confusion with the name, but I think there is an inevitability to that because until there is a name, they can’t make the new signs,” he said.

Bartlett said the tentative timeline for installation would be in April, around the anniversary of Skala’s passing. The district also will hold a ribbon cutting and celebration of both the building’s new name and Skala himself soon after the signs are up.

“This is an opportunity to give back to somebody that gave so much to our community,” School Committee member Daniel Vieu said. “I think it’s only right to try and push forward.”

Emilee Klein can be reached at eklein@gazettenet.com.