'Gateway High School' moves forward as the name of choice. Lee school board to make it official Tuesday.

The results are in — once more — for what people want to name Lee County's next high school. And just like last time, overwhelming support was shown to name the 2,000-student campus after the community where it will be built: Gateway. 

"Gateway High School" was the clear winner of both a Survey Monkey-style questionnaire that yielded 11,916 responses and a survey sent out to 2,408 eighth graders in the East Zone.

Now, it heads for an official school board vote, which is planned for a 6 p.m. meeting Tuesday. 

Participants in the recent surveys were asked to pick one of the top choices recommended through the district's original query.

Previously:These are the top suggested names for Lee County's next high school

The choices were:

• Gateway High School
• Thomas Edison High School
• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. High School
• Gabriela Mistral High School

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In the community responses, 60.2% of the responses came in for Gateway High, with 19.3% of the votes supporting a school named after Thomas Edison. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came in third with a 14.9% voting rate, 5.3% for Garbiela Mistral and 0.2% voting that they didn't care.

Of the 235 students who took part in the optional survey, which showed up on their district Chromebooks, 35% voted for Gateway. The next top vote-getter was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., which claimed 27% of the votes. The third choice was Thomas Edison at 19.7%, while 9.9% reported they didn’t care. Only 8.2% of the student votes supported Gabriela Mistral.

How they narrowed the field:Lee school district launches new survey to help pick a name for high school

The surveys seemed to resonate with the community, said Debbie Jordan, who represents the District 4 seat.

“People have pride here and it showed the first time they came out and voted for it, and absolutely today when they voted for Gateway High," Jordan said. "And you have to go with that.”

Read:Lee County names principal for new Gateway high school

Chris Patricca, the District 3 seat member and vice chair, agreed and thanked community members who have been active in the two-month process.

"From my perspective, the shining light or the really positive thing about this entire naming issue has been the community input and the community involvement in the process," Patricca said. "Some of it has been a little bit heated, but regardless, our families in our community are paying attention to our schools and that is always a good thing."

The yet-to-be-named school is set to open in 2021 as a near-twin of Bonita Springs High School, and will be built on a 55.6-acre site off State Road 82 and Griffin Drive in the Gateway community of Fort Myers. The build out has been priced at $98.2 million.

Read:Lee County School District caps budget to build new Gateway high school at $98.2 million

The original query pulled 1,920 responses between Aug. 26 and Sept. 18. Of them, 815 suggestions came in for "Gateway High School," with the next highest vote-getter, "Griffin High School," which carried 128 nominations.

The latter was eliminated because of "potential confusion," as the mythical creature, the griffin, is used as the logo of the entire community and is the mascot of another high school in the area — Gateway Charter High School. 

This sparked debate in the public about whether "Gateway High School" should be considered, as it could easily be confused for the other school. 

Although the district isn't mandated to follow the guidelines, existing board policy suggests that school names should be distinctive, which means they should be different “from the name of any other public school, public charter school, private school, college or university in Southwest Florida."

Read:Survey shows interest in naming next Lee high school 'Gateway.' But does it pass name guidelines?

Located in the same community — although on the other side near Daniels Parkway and Gateway Boulevard — is the Gateway charter system, which was board approved in 2007. It includes an elementary, middle and high school.

Down the road from the future high school is Gateway Elementary. It was the first school in the neighborhood to carry the Gateway naming convention, and it was built in 1992. 

Because of all the repetitive names, an 11-member name selection committee charged with comparing the suggested names to board policy flagged “Gateway High School” as not meeting “all” the requirements for a good school name. However, the suggestion was pushed on for consideration because of the support behind it. 

The next top suggestions that came from the initial survey were Thomas Edison High School, which fielded 54 nominations, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. High School, which earned 41 nominations.

The latter was going to be considered by the board anyway. This came about during an Aug. 27 board meeting when District 2 board member Melisa Giovannelli made a plea to name the school after the civil rights leader — something that her peers said they would consider in addition to other ideas that would come up during the survey.

The final option was Gabriela Mistral High School, which earned 19 nominations.

More:'Schooly McSchoolface' among name suggestions that didn't make the cut for Lee's next high school

The original query was a district-run survey where people could theoretically vote as many times as they wanted — something board members questioned the legitimacy of during a briefing meeting two weeks ago. 

Also questioned was how too many Gateway schools in one area could complicate things for first responders during an emergency.

Chair Gwyn Gittens, the District 5 member, made a motion to name the school “Gateway Senior,” which she said could help distinguish it from the nearby charter high school and keep it in line with the naming convention of Lehigh Senior High School.

Although this was supported by Giovannelli, the two said they "could live with" the campus being simply named "Gateway High School." The rest of the four board members gave the name a thumbs up during a consensus vote at a Thursday briefing meeting.

Board members asked staff to bring the naming policy up for review, saying there needs to be some "tweaks" to the existing document to help clear up confusion before the next round of schools are named. This could be later this year with the naming of a South Zone middle and elementary school, which will be built near the Estero High School campus.

For the new high school in Gateway, the first crop of students will start school in more than 20 portables staged at Lehigh Senior High School next August. The goal is to have a name decided on by the school's groundbreaking celebration, which is planned for 10 a.m. Nov. 13. 

Connect with this reporter pmccabe@news-press.com

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