WATERVILLE — A panel that decides policy for Waterville schools voted unanimously Tuesday to recommend the school board remove George J. Mitchell’s name from the elementary school bearing his name.

The policy committee also voted 7-0 to recommend the Waterville Board of Education give the George J. Mitchell Elementary School its former name, Brookside Elementary School.

The board will meet at 6 p.m. Monday in the Waterville Senior High School media center, where members will consider voting on the policy committee’s two recommendations.

Schools Superintendent Peter Hallen, who chairs the policy committee, said the full school board could decide to keep Mitchell’s name on the school, change the name to Brookside or give it another name.

Discussion about a possible name change was raised recently following the U.S. Department of Justice’s release of files that show Mitchell was associated with the late Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted child sexual predator. The files include emails between Epstein and Mitchell aides that sought to arrange meetings between the two men between 2010 and 2013. Mitchell’s name appears more than 300 times in the files, including in texts and on flight logs.

Mitchell, a Waterville native, has not been linked to any child sex abuse and has denied knowledge of criminal activity by Epstein.

Parents Jennifer Johnson, Larkin Silverman and Sarah Staffiere asked the school board last month to consider removing Mitchell’s name from the school and renaming it. One asked that it be changed to “Waterville Elementary School,” a name the policy committee discussed Tuesday along with Brookside and Waterville Primary School.

The policy committee decided not to include Waterville Elementary in its recommendation for renaming because Winslow Elementary School is nearby and uses the acronym “WES,” which would be confusing. Waterville Primary School and Waterville Public Schools also use the acronym WPS.

Brookside School was renamed for Mitchell in 1995. Mitchell, now 92, has been revered over the years in the city and beyond for his contributions to the state, the nation and internationally.

For years he has lived in New York City and spent summers in Seal Harbor. He served as special U.S. envoy to Northern Ireland from 1995-2001 and helped broker a peace agreement. He also was special envoy for Middle East peace from 2009-2011. A Democrat, he was a U.S. senator from Maine from 1980-1995 and served as Senate majority leader from 1989-1995. Before that, he briefly served as a judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine and U.S. attorney for the District of Maine.

Also named for Mitchell are: the U.S. post office in Waterville; the Department of Special Collections at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, where he earned his undergraduate degree; and the Center for Sustainable Solutions at the University of Maine in Orono.

In light of the Epstein files, The Queen’s University Belfast said it would sever ties with Mitchell and remove his name from the Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice. While there have been no findings of wrongdoing against Mitchell, university leaders said continuing to honor him was not appropriate. A bust of Mitchell was removed from the campus.

His portrait was recently removed from the Hall of Flags at the Statehouse in Augusta.

No one on the Waterville policy committee argued against removing Mitchell’s name from the school.

Members who voted Tuesday were: Hallen, Assistant Superintendent Jen Allen, Waterville Senior High School Principal Brian Laramee, Waterville Board of Education Chair Erin McDermott, school board member Aimee Morris, first grade Mitchell School teacher Alise Snipe and Waterville Senior High School math teacher Donna Forkey, who also is president of the Waterville Education Association.

Only two people attended the meeting besides the board: Mitchell School Principal Kim Taylor and resident Lisa Evans.

Hallen said the committee’s task was to review the school policy about naming facilities in light of testimony from parents who had spoken to the school board and asked for Mitchell’s name to be removed, as well as from people who had written or called school officials to ask that Mitchell’s name be removed.

The committee was to determine if the information received and researched about Mitchell reaches the threshold stipulated in the policy, that the person’s name has suffered substantially enough to warrant a name change. The policy does not require a person to have been convicted to remove a name.

“Reputation is a key criteria,” Hallen said. “If it suffers substantially, the board has the authority to remove the name.”

Hallen noted that Mitchell has not been convicted of anything.

“There have been no legal findings of misconduct,” he said.

As part of his research, Hallen looked at the potential fiscal impact of changing the name, saying it could cost between $10,000 and $40,000, not including cost to physically change the name on paperwork, signs on the school and school entrances, and so forth.

Morris said she thought the school name has suffered substantially.

“I think we fit the criteria for changing the name,” she said.

Foley agreed and seconded the motion. McDermott said she was surprised that, considering the number of Mitchell family members in the area, no one had come forward to ask the school name remain.

She said she grew up in Maine respecting Mitchell and all he has done. She said she was “engaged, inspired and empowered” by him, but now she doesn’t feel the same way.

Forkey made a motion to change the name to Brookside Elementary and McDermott seconded it. About 500 students are enrolled in kindergarten through grade 3 at the school.