Manatee schools accepting East County K-8 school name nominations

What would you like the new East County K-8 school to be named?

Now is your chance to have a say.

The School Board of Manatee County is accepting name nominations for the K-8 school, which is scheduled to open in August 2025. 

The school is being constructed on about 40 acres east of Uihlein Road and approximately a quarter-mile south of State Road 64. 

The school, which is initially being built to house 1,620 students, is the first K-8 school the School District of Manatee County is constructing from the ground up. 

Name nominations will be accepted from Aug. 28 through Sept. 27. 

The school board will publish the list of name nominations on the district website on Oct. 1. 

The board then will discuss the name nominations and select finalists at a school board meeting Oct. 8. 

Public comment on name nominations will be welcomed at all school board meetings and workshops in September and October, according to a news release.

On Oct. 22, the school board is scheduled to select the new name of the school. 

All name nominations must abide by the district's "Commemoration of School Facilities" policy. 

The policy states commemorations "should be reserved only for those individuals who have made a significant contribution to the enhancement of education generally or the district in particular or to the wellbeing of the district, community, state or nation."

According to the policy, if the name is related to its location in the community, the proposed name should be "descriptive and of reasonable length."

If named for an individual, the proposal should be of "an outstanding civic or educational leader, living or deceased, of local, state or national prominence," according to the policy. If the person is living and an elected official, the person must be out of public office for no less than five years. 

For any district employee to be honored with a name nomination, the employee must not have worked for the district for at least the past five years, according to the release. If the person worked for the district in the past five years, a super majority vote of the board must ratify the approval of the nomination.

School name submissions must include the name of the person submitting the nomination, an email address and/or phone number. 

School nominations can be submitted by:

• Emailing nominations to: [email protected]
• Mailing nominations to: The School District of Manatee County, PO Box 9069, Bradenton, FL 34206-9069
• Personally delivering nominations to: Miller School Supper Center, 215 Manatee Ave. W. in Bradenton