APOLLO BEACH, Fla. — After receiving more than 1,500 school name submissions, a name was finally picked for a new school in Apollo Beach.
The Hillsborough County School Board voted unanimously to name the district's new school Dorothy C. York PreK-8 Magnet School.
The new school, located in the Waterset community off Highway 301, is scheduled to open in the fall, engaging students with an internationally-minded focus, according to a news release from county school leaders.
Students will also be offered to learn about art and dance while also given other opportunities to explore their creative side.
So who is the new school named after? It's named after Dorothy Carter York, who was a dedicated teacher for 45 years.
She was an English teacher at Blake High School and also at Hillsborough High School, the release explains. She also worked with the University of South Florida's Project Upward Bound and was also an adjunct professor at Hillsborough Community College.
York, who was a talented writer and author, died in 2012.
“My mom would be speechless today. She wouldn't believe it. She was a teacher. Schools in this district are named after big shots. She was a teacher," Liz York-Cohen, the daughter of Dorothy York, said in a statement after Hillsborough County Public Schools Superintendent Addison Davis announced the new school's name.
“My mother was absolutely a phenomenal teacher, believing in all children. She was an advocate for children and believed all children deserved a second chance."
The Dorothy C. York PreK-8 Magnet School will help provide relief to surrounding schools that are already near or at capacity.
"She would be stunned and honored that the district would recognize a teacher for all teachers do,” York-Cohen said in a statement.
