An elementary school in Waterville is getting a name change.
The Waterville school board has voted to rename the George J. Mitchell Elementary School.
The vote comes after the school’s namesake, former judge, U.S. senator and diplomat George Mitchell, was named more than 300 times in newly released Jeffrey Epstein files.
The school was named after Mitchell, who is originally from Waterville, back in 1995.
The board’s school policy committee recommended returning to the school’s original name of Brookside, and Monday night, the school board made it final.
One school board member said no one reached out to say that the city should keep the name.
Mitchell has not been linked to abuse claims and has denied knowledge of criminal activity by Epstein, but his name was removed from several other prominent organizations from Maine to Northern Ireland, where he famously helped to broker a peace deal almost 30 years ago.
