Renaming Colorado's oldest high school after America's newest president could prove tough for students behind the idea.

The Student Worker Club wants Boulder High School to become Barack Obama High School and scheduled a news conference on campus today to make its case.

The group's president, Ben Raderstorf, said the news conference comes on "the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth to commemorate both the role he had in making the election of Barack Obama possible and the social progress that has been made since he issued the Emancipation Proclamation."

Principal Bud Jenkins doesn't anticipate a rush to rename the school founded in 1875.

Ultimately, it would take approval by the Boulder Valley School District Board.

The district policy reads, "The renaming of a school shall be considered only when district restructuring creates a new school or in other extraordinary circumstances deemed by the Board of Education."

But "extraordinary circumstances" is subjective, said district spokesman Briggs Gamblin.

"It will be up to the students to make the case that they feel that extraordinary circumstances exist to make this name change necessary," he said.

So far, the district has not approved any name changes, although there were some modifications in the 1990s at two focus schools: High Peaks School at Aurora Seven and Creekside Elementary at Martin Park.

"We kept the building names," Gamblin said, noting the changes were similar to having Mile High Stadium in Denver called Invesco Field at Mile High.

Gamblin said he knows of only one example of a Boulder school being renamed, and that was well before Boulder Valley School District was formed.

"It was done in the early 20th century," Gamblin said.

The school was Pine Street School, which was renamed Whittier Elementary in 1903 in honor of the poet John Greenleaf Whittier. "It was a student-initiated project," he said.

Gamblin said that since the Boulder Valley School District was formed in 1961, it has had a policy about naming schools.

"What the students will need to show is there is broad-based community support," he said. "There is a very specific process and there is a reason for it - you want to let the community engage in the discussion. The name belongs to the whole community."

Jenkins said he applauds Student Worker members for being enthusiastic about President Obama, but added "of all the things in the world that need to be changed, Boulder High School's name is probably way down the list."

"Why not go out and get involved in working at the homeless shelter or Habitat for Humanity or a thousand other things in the community that . . . are really going to make an impact on the world?" he said.

Raderstorf agreed that such volunteer work is "definitely very important" and said members of the club, which has a record of social activism, already are involved in those efforts.

"But we also see that names and symbolism are really a lot more important than just a name," he said. "It really will serve to inspire the community, inspire the students and really make much more of a difference than just putting up a new sign."

Raderstorf pointed out district policy says "schools will be named for . . . national leaders whose names will lend dignity and stature to the school; or significant or pertinent events," among other criteria.

"It's not something that's unprecedented nationally," he said, noting that elementary students on Long Island, N.Y., successfully campaigned soon after the election to rename their school Barack Obama Elementary School.

"It's going to be difficult, but it's definitely not to going be impossible," Raderstorf said.