Names Sought For New South Tampa K-8 Magnet School

TAMPA, FL — Hillsborough County Public Schools is seeking suggestions for a name for the district’s new prekindergarten through eighth-grade magnet school, set to open in August 2024.

The public is invited to offer recommendations for names for the school, which will be located at 4210 W. Bay Villa Ave., in Tampa. The PreK-8 magnet school in South Tampa will have a 1,620-student capacity and will include prekindergarten through eighth grade.

Name submissions can be submitted here.

The final day for name submissions is Oct. 6, and all names submitted for recommendation will be provided to the Hillsborough County School Board for its consideration. The school board is set to vote on a new name at its Oct. 17 meeting.

Names under consideration must follow school board policy 7250. School sites and facilities must be named for people who have rendered outstanding public service to public education, for geographical locations, or groups and clubs as indicated: Elementary, middle and secondary schools can be named after U.S. presidents, former school board members, educators, outstanding citizens and geographical locations.

An elected official proposed for a school name must have left public office for no less than five years, and no current candidate for public office will be considered.

Families can apply to this new magnet school during the fall School Choice and Magnet Application Window opening from Nov. 1 through Dec. 15. The school district will be marketing the new magnet school to other schools in the area that currently are overcapacity.

The new magnet school will replace the existing Manhattan Center offices that sits on about 13 acres of school district-owned property.

The center currently houses various district offices as well as the district's diagnostic and learning resource system, and instructional materials, which will be moved to a new site. The district received a special use permit in March 2022 through the city of Tampa to construct the school.

According to the school district, many schools in South Tampa are projected to be overcapacity in the next few years, including Ballast Point and Gorrie elementary schools and Westshore, Coleman and Wilson middle schools.

To minimize traffic tie-ups on surrounding roads, the schools district plans to use the entire site for vehicle stacking so roads won't become congested when parents are dropping off or picking up students. The design will allow the school district to stack 132 cars on the school property, substantially more than any other school in the district.

The design will also improve water retention, which has been an ongoing problem in the area.

A neighborhood meeting was held Aug. 5, 2021, at the current Manhattan Center building to discuss the project with the community and gather feedback. The presentation from the meeting can be viewed below.