Q: What’s going on at Moulder and Immokalee? They talked about a school and retail, I believe, a few years ago. There’s been activity over the last few weeks. Thanks! —Kelly Whelan, Golden Gate Estates
A: Although the Collier County School District will not have its groundbreaking ceremony until June 4, site construction began in May on a new elementary school targeted to open in August 2025 at 2400 Moulder Drive, along the south side of Immokalee Road about 3 miles east of Collier Boulevard and 2.5 miles west of Wilson Boulevard.
With the help of community input, the school board at its May 14 meeting chose Bear Creek Elementary School as the name for what had been known for many years as Elementary School “L” during its early planning stages. The school’s attendance zone boundary will include the Immokalee Road area from Collier Boulevard to Randall Boulevard and stretch north-south from the Collier-Lee line to the Vanderbilt Beach Road extension.
The capacity for the new school will be 1,000 students, although that many will not be enrolled there initially.
“The major benefit is that it’s going to relieve current overcrowding at Laurel Oak Elementary School [next to Gulf Coast High School], which obviously is farther west on Immokalee Road,” said Chad Oliver, chief communication officer for Collier County Public Schools.
The 22-acre school property on Immokalee Road is flanked by Moulder and Cornerstone drives and abuts the White Rose wedding venue. The school district purchased the land more than 15 years ago and initially cleared and filled the site more than five years ago.
“We’re fortunate that the school board staff strategically looks ahead into the future with projections for growth patterns and what our needs will be for elementary, middle and high school sites,” Oliver said. “We acquired this property back in ‘06, which makes the process of building a new school infinitely easier when you don’t have to obviously pay current market prices for land.”
Retail will not be a component of the site, but the new school will have something unique for the local school district: a pre-kindergarten wing.
“This will be a first in that we will have pre-K classrooms within the building,” Oliver said. “There will be an entire pre-K wing, which will be unique for Collier County Public Schools. But it makes sense, obviously, because early learning is such a priority and such a need.”
Pre-K is a major priority for CCPS Superintendent Leslie Ricciardelli, who has worked with the Florida Legislature on the matter, Oliver said. “We got an appropriation for $2 million to build additional pre-K classrooms at two of our existing middle school sites,” he said.
Last June, the school board chose Florida-based Harvard Jolly Architecture to design the school. In January, the board selected Gilbane Building Co. as the construction management firm for the project. Bear Creek’s principal will be selected this fall.
As part of the construction project, a traffic signal will be installed at Immokalee Road and Moulder Drive. Indicative of local growth spreading eastward, this will be the fifth traffic signal installed within eight years on that stretch of Immokalee Road between Collier and Wilson boulevards. New signals went live in 2017 for Collier Charter Academy at 12101 Immokalee Road, in early 2021 at the Quarry-Woodcrest Drive intersection on Immokalee Road, in mid-2021 for Naples Classical Academy at 10270 Immokalee Road; and last year where the main entrances to the Twin Eagles and Valencia Trails communities meet at Immokalee Road.
Name game
After launching a community survey to name the future elementary school, the school district received more than 400 suggestions. School board members each picked their favorites out of those submissions and then the board chose Bear Creek Elementary School from that short list. Community members were asked to provide an explanation for their school name suggestions. “The Florida black bear used to roam that area for quite some time and still can be seen around communities of the area, such as The Quarry and Heritage Bay. Plus, I think having a bear as the school mascot would be cute,” wrote the lone submitter for the Bear Creek name.
A few other submissions included “bear” in the name: Bear Brook, Bear’s Paw, Little Bears and Naples Cubs. Eagle variations also were popular with Eagle Bay, Eagle Cove, Eagle Trails and Golden Eagle. Many other suggestions had animal names: Apple Snail, Blue Heron, Dolphin, Egret, Green Heron, Limpkin, Loggerhead, Mockingbird, Osprey, Panther, Sandhill, Spoonbill, Starfish and even Harambe Memorial to honor a well-known gorilla.
Wildlife also encouraged names such as Bottlebrush, Buttonwood, Cabbage Palm, Citrus Grove, Ficus, Ghost Orchid, Gumbo Limbo, Hardwood Hammock, Hibiscus, Lantana, Live Oak, Lotus, Magnolia, Mangrove, Palms, Poinciana, Queen Palm, Royal Palm, Sand Dollar, Satin Leaf, Sawgrass and Sea Grape. Ten picked Orange Blossom, eight chose Orange Tree, and a few others had variations with Orange.
Ten submissions wanted to see the school named Cornerstone Elementary after its side street and strong foundation. Immokalee Road, Moulder, Wilson and Woodcrest got votes, too. Six picked North Naples and Paradise Coast and five liked Collier County or Collier Elementary. Others conjured up local or coastal locations such as Bayfront, Bayside, Cocohatchee, Corkscrew Swamp, Everglades, Gulf Breeze, Gulf Shore, Gulfside, Heritage Bay, Lakeside, Ocean, Rivergrass, Riverside, Rookery, Seaside, Swampside, Twin Eagles, Valencia Trails and West Naples. A dozen submitted bright names such as Sunny Coast, Sunny Days, Sunrise, Sunset, Sunshine, Sunshine Grove and Sunshine State.
Names honoring people also were quite popular. More than 50 would like to see a school named to honor Collier schools’ Roy M. Terry. Ten wanted to honor Naples Philharmonic founder Myra Daniels. Four favored former Collier Schools Superintendent Kamela Patton and three votes each were cast for the late wildland firefighter Marco Miranda, Naples attorney John Passidomo and Dorcas Howard, a former principal and a CCPS employee for more than 50 years.
Other local school administrators or educators mentioned for a school name include Leslie Ricciardelli, Stephnie Lucarelli, Mary McLeod Bethune, Leila B. Canant, Charles E. Frontz, John M. Kelly, Rebecca Marcotte, Melvin Maxwell, Valerie McFadden, Susan McManus, Ruth Neal and Ollie Phipps. Other local names included sanctuary creator John H. Baker, swamp warden Rhett Green, conservationist Marjorie Harris Carr, Naples founder Walter Haldeman and early settlers Isabel Collier Read and John J. Weeks,
Five people wanted to see Donald J. Trump Elementary School. Other suggested honorees included Joe Biden, Gov. Ron DeSantis, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., teacher in space Christa McAuliffe, astronaut Michael Collins, Indian chiefs Billy Bowlegs and Micanopy, Juan Ponce de Leon, Leonardo da Vinci, Einstein, Hemingway, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mother Teresa, Jimmy Buffett and socialist Eugene Debs.
Some suggestions were inspirational: Champion, Hope, Kindness, Legacy, Liberty, Love, Loving, New Horizon and Rizz. One even wanted to keep the name Elementary School L because it’s “easy to understand.”
Another survey closed this week to name Bear Creek’s school mascot, but those suggestions have not been tallied yet. The community was encouraged to propose a mascot that is not already assigned to a school. With a name like Bear Creek, it would be surprising if its mascot is not a bear, even though nearby Palmetto Ridge High School and Calusa Park and Corkscrew elementary schools have Bears, Black Bears and Bear Cubs, respectively, as their mascots.
“There’s nothing saying it can’t be named Bears,” Oliver said.
The school district has made it easy for everyone to see updates and more information about Bear Creek Elementary School on the school district’s website at collierschools.com/bearcreek. An online search for Bear Creek Elementary School shows that the local school will share its name with elementary schools in St. Petersburg, Florida; Austin, Texas; and Boulder, Colorado.
The “Tim Aten Knows” weekly column answers local questions from readers. Email Tim at tim.aten@naplespress.com.
