A new K-5 campus at Princeton will be known as Princeton Elementary School, a unanimous said. But the board split on what to call a new elementary school on Vinson Road in the Powhatan community.

The superintendent's staff had recommended Powhatan Elementary. But on Tuesday, board member Donna White presented a letter from the Vinson family asking for Vinson Road Elementary.

Either name would suit school board policy, which calls for schools to be named for their locations, whether communities or roads. But some school board members feared Vinson Road Elementary would cross the line that bars the board from naming schools for people.

"I don't have a real taste for a 'road' school," board Chairman Kay Carroll said. "I think the idea of honoring some communitywide significance would be what would be considered."

White said Vinson Road Elementary would be no different from Dixon Road Elementary School in the McGee's Crossroads community. White said she assumed that road was named for a family. Assistant Superintendent Ann Williams, who oversees school building in Johnston, said she didn't know whether Dixon Road got its name from a family.

During construction, Williams said, she and her staff have been calling school Vinson Road Elementary. But at a meeting of surrounding property owners, all those who spoke favored Powhatan Elementary, she said.

Board member Fred Bartholomew said he would have had no problem with Vinson Road Elementary. But the request from the Vinson family changed his mind, he said.

"That sends another message if we're going to name it after a family," he said. "This request is from a family now."

In the end, the board agreed to table the matter until February.