And that's because Portal Elementary School is scheduled to move into the old Carol Murdock Elementary School in December.

At the Oct. 14 school board meeting, about 50 residents spoke against the proposal. School board members, who originally planned to cast their final vote on the issue, decided to have one more hearing on Nov. 18. The board first tabled the issue at its Sept. 23 meeting under pressure from the Carol Murdock neighborhood.

Residents of Murdock neighborhood and representatives of Portal Elementary School accepted the board's suggestion to meet before the Nov. 18 meeting to find a common ground.

"I really like to see the neighborhood and the school work together," said board President Ben Liao. "If my children were Portal students, I would like them to be in a friendly neighborhood."

The naming controversy started two years ago when the district decided to add a new neighborhood middle school at the site of Collins Elementary School. Collins will move to the site of Portal Elementary School and Portal will move to the site of Carol Murdock Elementary School—a school that was closed in 1980 but continues to house different educational programs such as a Chinese language school and Gymboree.

Since the Carol Murdock Elementary School opened in San Jose in 1965 in honor of the district's

first lady, Carol Murdock, residents near the school have identified themselves as the Murdock neighborhood. A city park next to the school was also named after her. Actually, "Murdock neighborhood" is the official name for the area on the city of San Jose's roster of neighborhoods.

"Portal is an alternative program. Alternative schools are not like neighborhood schools," said Sue Wilhelmi, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1966. "Those families in the program will return to their neighborhoods when their students move on to high schools, but we will still be the Carol Murdock community."

Although Carol Murdock Elementary School closed 23 years ago due to low enrollment, former students, like the neighbors, resist the name change.

"Some 35 years ago, your predecessors judged that Carol Murdock's contributions were so significant that a school should be named for her. This great honor, I am quite sure, didn't have an expiration date on it," said Daniel Wilhelmi while addressing the school board at the Oct. 14 meeting. Wilhelmi, 38, attended the school from kindergarten through sixth grade. He graduated from the school in 1978.

"To strip Mrs. Murdock's name from the school would be an act of great disrespect," he added.

But the Portal community argues that just as the name of Carol Murdock is important to the identity of the neighborhood, so is Portal to the school's staff, parents and students.

Portal derived its name from Louis Portal, a Frenchman who came to San Francisco during the gold rush and bought 400 acres in the Cupertino area in 1860. Portal Elementary School is located on a small portion of his original farm. Portal is part of Cupertino's past. A Cupertino street, a city park and a school were named after him.

As an alternative program with its focus on technology and multi-age grouping, Portal is known throughout the state for its high performance on standardized tests. "We are known as Portal," said Portal Elementary School Principal Leslie Mains.

The Portal community even developed six beliefs that represent each letter of Portal. For example, the letter P stands for "Parents participate in, support and share a common vision of education with the staff."

Chris Roels, who has taught at Portal for six years, said, "The word portal is an appropriate description for our school because it means "gateway." We are truly a gateway for our kids to their future in the 21st century. Don't close the gate on our teachers, families and students."

Portal students, who are too young to understand the complexity of the issue, want to keep the name of Portal because the school's mascot is a penguin. " 'Portal penguin' simply sounds better," a class wrote in its petition to the board.

The Murdock community came up with three names for the Portal community to choose from and all of them are longer than the already long "Portal Elementary School at Carol Murdock Elementary School Site." The longest proposed name is "Carol Murdock School: Home of Cupertino Union School District's Portal Science & Technology Alternative Program."

No matter what the board decides on Nov. 18, Portal is going to move into Carol Murdock Elementary School in December. Superintendent William Bragg said the district might just need to set up two signs for the school. "There is historical significance in both names," Bragg said. "We want the opening of the school to be a celebration."