HUTTO — Hutto Independent School District’s eighth elementary school’s name will be decided by the end of the month.
The nominee names, revealed during the Thursday, Feb. 8 meeting, are Ray Gavit, Connie Gooding, Manuel and Lupe Herrera, Chris D. Kelley, Robert A. Ledbetter, Lee Martinez, Janiece Nelson, Adam Orgain, Bobby Rogers and Mary Ann Stern Whitfield.
Trustees will vote on the school’s name during its next meeting, Thursday, Feb. 22.
“A lot of these names are people that are what I call ‘OG Hutto people,’” Board Vice President Amy English said. “Some of the new people might not know these names … We do have a hard decision, but no matter what we pick, it’s going to be great if they are on this list.” A total of 226 nominations helped determine the final 10 nominees, said Noelle Newton, executive director for communications and community relations. Nominations were taken throughout January.
Newton said each person who submitted a nomination for the elementary school’s next name had to cite how the person or place embodies Hutto ISD’s policy for naming a school.
“We created a form based on that exact criteria,” Newton said. “We created questions that went straight through (the criteria). We required everyone as they submitted names to submit an answer for each one of those.”
District policy says in order for a school to be named after a person, the individual must have made exceptional contributions to the improvement of public education, the district, community or state and represents exemplary human qualities that can serve as a model of excellence for the students who will attend the school.
In addition, the district’s policy says a facility may be named for local areas, landmarks or historic events.
Nominations for politicians or political affiliation cannot be considered according to Hutto ISD policy.
