Groton — The library media center at Groton Middle School is being named after retiring Superintendent Michael Graner.

The Board of Education voted at a special meeting Monday to name the library media center at the new middle school at the top of Fort Hill Road, adjacent to Fitch High School, the “Dr. Michael Graner Library Media Center.” The vote was followed by a virtual tribute ceremony for Graner.

A plaque was unveiled with an image of the U.S. Coast Guard Eagle, and an inscription noting the library name and Dr. Michael Hughes Graner, Ph.D., as retired USCG Captain and Groton Public Schools superintendent from 2014 through 2020. It will be installed at the school at a later date.

Board of Education Chair Kim Shepardson Watson said by phone that the board wanted to recognize the work Graner has done in his seven years as superintendent. Realizing the district needed to work on addressing racial imbalance in its schools, Graner worked with many people to take on the Groton 2020 plan. That called for building a new consolidated middle school, which opened in September, and two new intradistrict magnet elementary schools, which will open in the fall of 2021, on the sites of the former middle schools. Three elementary schools — S.B. Butler, Claude Chester and Mary Morrisson — will close at the conclusion of this school year.  

She said Graner was instrumental in helping push the plan through the largest referendum in state history, and the board wanted to recognize Graner, who is a "lover of the word and literature," by naming the library media center after him.

“This was a complete surprise, and I’m just so humbled by the honor,” Graner said in a phone interview.

He said it’s beyond his “wildest dreams” to have his name on the library media center, which he described as the “hub of learning for the school,” with books and modern media that children and staff use in their research.

“That part of the school is really special to me,” said Graner, who taught literature at the Coast Guard Academy and loves literature and books. In his retirement, he plans to write a book with retired Coast Guard Commander Marc Nguyen, who was a student of Graner's at the academy.

Graner called Groton Middle School the linchpin of the Groton 2020 plan, which consolidated schools and created equity across the district. At a time of ongoing debate about whether Groton should have two middle schools or one, he had suggested at a workshop in 2014 to build one consolidated middle school adjacent to the high school and create an International Baccalaureate campus.

He said after having a vision in his mind of the school for several years, it’s “such a blessing” that it’s now a reality and he’s so gratified by all the work that went into creating the school, especially the work that continued during the coronavirus pandemic.

During the virtual school board meeting and tribute Monday evening, state and local officials, people who helped shepherd the Groton 2020 plan, and youths involved with the More Than Words club gave tributes about Graner.

Assistant Superintendent Susan Austin, who will become Groton’s next superintendent when Graner retires Jan. 1, said a common theme was how Graner has been steadfast, thoughtful, honest and tenacious, persevering even in the face of obstacles in bringing the Groton 2020 plan to fruition.

“He was so certain that this middle school was going to bring excellence and equity and efficiency to this town, and that’s the whole motto of the Groton 2020 plan,” she said.

k.drelich@theday.com