Hays district seeking names for elementary, high school

Public has until Oct. 16 to submit nominations for schools approved in bond vote this year.

The Hays school district will be opening _______ Elementary next year and _______ High School in 2019.

Now’s your chance to fill in the blanks.

The Hays Consolidated Independent School District’s naming committee is seeking nominations from the public for the schools.

According to the district, new schools may be named for:

Historical or geographical sites or communities.

Subdivisions.

Significant local, state or national figures (living or dead).

People who have made significant contributions to education in the district (living or dead).

Local, state or national historical events or places.

People who have donated land or money for the property or facility.

To submit name suggestions, visit hayscisd.net/name or write to the district at Hays CISD Naming Committee, 21003 IH 35, Kyle, TX 78640. Printable forms are also available on the district’s website.

The public has until Oct. 16 to submit nominations. Then the naming committee will meet to begin narrowing options.

“The committee could suggest a new name or a slate of possible names to the Board of Trustees as early as November,” the district said in a statement Friday.

The trustees then could choose final names for the schools in December, the district said. The naming committee is appointed by the board.

The public is being invited to suggest names for the district’s third high school and 14th elementary, which were approved in a bond vote this year.

Proposition 1 on the ballot last May called for $189.85 million for a high school and two elementa-

ries. The measure passed with 59.56 percent of the vote.

The district has seen explosive growth in the past decade, with enrollment increasing 61 percent since the 2006-07 school year to 19,260 students this year.

The district’s two high schools, with capacities of about 2,250 apiece, now have a combined enrollment of more than 5,400 students. Without a third high school, demographers project that the schools’ total enrollment would balloon to nearly 6,400 students by 2020.