The new Kelly Road school building will now have two names, Shas Ti Secondary School and Kelly Road Secondary School.
The decision was made in a four-to-three vote (4-3) at School District 57’s (SD57) regular board meeting tonight (April 28).
The motion came as an amendment by Chair Tim Bennett to Trustee Ron Pollilo's recommendation to give the school the combined name Kelly Road-Shas Ti secondary school.
The motion allows the $44.3-million replacement school to hold both names equally.
The motion has been carried. The school will now have two official names. "Kelly Road Secondary School and Shas Ti Secondary School." It will have a dual name. #CityofPG
— Hanna Petersen (@hannaepeter) April 29, 2020
"The building will have two official names," says Bennett.
"I believe it is a way for us to move forward with the opening of the building."
Bennett said this is an opportunity to look at reconciliation as a distinct guide for the community down the road.
Bennett, Polillo, and Trustees Sharel Warrington and Bob Thompson voted in favour, whereas Trustees Trent Derrick, Shuirose Valmohamed, and Betty Bekkering voted against.
BREAKING: @HartNation will share its new building as “Kelly Road Secondary” & “Shas Ti Secondary” after SD57 trustees voted in favour of the decision 🗳 The $44.3M replacement school is set to open Sept. 2020 with both names on the outside | #CityOfPG @SD57PG @PGMatters pic.twitter.com/Ot1HzI2All
— Kyle Balzer (@KyleBalzer) April 29, 2020
Trustees thoroughly debated four motions regarding the naming of the school for well over two hours.
The first hour of the board meeting was also dedicated to public comment on the issue where staff read out letters expressing opposition and support for the proposed name change.
This final decision followed an April 22 public engagement survey which garnered over 2,700 responses and over 800 pages of verbatim data and found 68 per cent in favour of keeping the name Kelly Road Secondary School.
The question about what to name the newly constructed school first arose on Feb. 25, when Board of Education Trustee Trent Derrick put forward a motion at the regular public board meeting, to “engage in the process to rename the newly constructed KRSS to Shas Ti, which is Dakelh for 'grizzly bear trail,' reflecting the history of the area.
The original motion also came at the request of Lheidli T’enneh presented by Elders Kenora Stewart and Clifford Quaw.
It was moved and carried unanimously by board trustees, however, the board acknowledges it was met with public surprise, confusion, frustration, protest and support, both within the community and elsewhere.
Tonight’s lengthy debate, and ultimate final decision on what to name the school, dug deep into the meaning and importance of reconciliation and touched on issues such as racism, colonialism, identity and culture.
“This is not a popular decision. Not all truthful and right decisions are popular at the start. We are making the decision for the long-term –10, 15, 20 years – so the Lheidli don’t have to deal with the racism they’ve been dealing with,” said Derrick, who then spoke out against compromising on a dual name for the building.
“Language, especially for First Nations, is bound to the land. Shas Ti is a key element to that land and is a key element to who they are. For too long they have had to compromise their government system and their history.”
However, once it was time to vote on the four motions up for debate, Trustees Sharel Warrington and Bob Thompson threw their support behind Bennett and Polilo’s motion for the building to have a dual name which allowed the motion to pass.
“Now that the decision has been made that the building has been dual named there will be some logistical issues that will have to be figured out in the coming weeks and months leading up to the school year,” said Bennett in a media interview after the board meeting.
Bennett says the district will now begin work with the design team and to the architects so the new building is ready to open in September
“There aren’t a lot of examples around the province of school’s being dual named but it is something we are able to do through the Ministry of Education. We heard feedback loud and clear through the questionnaire and this was an opportunity to recognize both the important history of Lheidli T’enneh and the history of the Kelly Road community.”
He added that work with school communities will also now begin on how to implement this decision to make sure both names and histories are represented.
