MIDDLETON, Idaho — Middleton's newest elementary school is getting ready to break ground, and students are already helping shape its identity.
Freedom Elementary, the Middleton School District's upcoming elementary school, will have the Eagles as its first mascot after students across the district cast their votes.
The mascot vote came after the community helped choose the school's name. Middleton School District Superintendent Marc Gee says about 1,500 people voted on three final name options, with Freedom Elementary coming out on top.
"Freedom Elementary wasn't even close. It was far and away the number one pick of our community," Gee said.
The district's mascot committee, made up of parents, community members and teachers, narrowed the mascot choices down to five options: Freedom Stars, Freedom Patriots, Freedom Pioneers, Freedom Eagles and Freedom Falcons.
WATCH: New Freedom Elementary gets a mascot — chosen by Middleton students
Elementary students then voted for their favorite mascot over the past few days.
On Thursday afternoon, the district announced Freedom Elementary's first mascot would be the Eagles.
While the mascot is giving students something to celebrate, the new school is also intended to address a larger issue facing the growing district: overcrowding.
The district says its elementary schools have reached about 106% capacity districtwide, with some individual schools reaching as much as 150% capacity. The district is also using 24 temporary classrooms across its elementary schools.
"We've been working for years trying to find a way to get a new elementary school built," Gee said. "We tried to bond multiple times. Each of those times we didn't get enough votes to pass the bond, and so we couldn't build a new school."
As previously reported, the district is moving forward with Freedom Elementary using state funding rather than raising taxes through a new bond.
About $8 million from school modernization funds, along with more than $11 million from the state's cooperative fund, will pay for the first phase of the project.
The first phase of Freedom Elementary will have room for about 400 students. Once both phases are complete, the school could house about 700 students.
The district says the project will move forward without raising taxes, after the community's previous vote against a tax increase.
The groundbreaking for Freedom Elementary is set for September 2 at the new school site on Kingsbury Road.
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