ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – The St. Johns County School Board chose a name Tuesday for the new high school that up to today had been labeled “HHH.”
The school will be Tocoi Creek High School.
The name was chosen from six top suggestions.
A mascot will be chosen later from 11 options:
| Suggested school names | Mascot top selections |
|---|---|
| Ancient City High School | Bulls |
| Nine Mile High School | Cyclones |
| North River High School | Hornets |
| River Valley High School | Hurricanes |
| Tocoi Creek High School (chosen name) | Longhorns |
| Tolomato High School | Moccasins |
| Razorbacks | |
| Tigers | |
| Toro | |
| Vikings | |
| Vipers |
On Dec. 15, the academic and elective course catalog will be released for the 2021-2022 school year enrollment.
The St. Johns County School Board said the new school is desperately needed to help address overcrowding in the district.
“Largely this will be taking the pressure off Nease high school,” said St. Johns County Superintendent Tim Forson.
Forson says at the moment Nease high school has around 3,000 students. He estimates around 1,400 of those students will move to this new high school.
The district has already announced the school’s colors: burnt orange, gunmetal gray, and black.
The high school, located near the intersection of International Golf Parkway north of State Road 16 will eventually hold 2,000 students.
“We’re already ready to break ground on a second high school that would open the following year that would, hopefully, alleviate Bartram trail,” said Forson.
Realtor Shimi Meir says the market for families in St. Johns County is so high in demand that sellers and builders have taken advantage of it.
“Some of them don’t take any sort of concessions, where before you could negotiate. Now some builders don’t give a fridge, for example,” said Meir.
According to data released by the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors, 308 additional homes were closed on in 2020 compared to the same time in 2019.
Forson agrees that even during a pandemic the district has seen an increase in students.
“We’re also opening up the new K-8 in Nocatee,” Forson said. “In our 5 year plan, two additional K-8s and an elementary school. So in a 5 year period, we are going to see multiple schools come online.”