Thames Valley officials detail plans to name four new schools

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The London-area’s largest school board is forging ahead with the naming of four new schools, striking a committee of trustees and administrators to select each one.

Each Thames Valley District school board naming committee is made up of at least three trustees, one administrator, a superintendent, a human rights advisor and a First Nations, Métis and Inuit educator advisor, according to Lynne Griffith-Jones, superintendent of human resources and author of a recently released staff report.

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Only trustees are voting members of the committees, she said.

“(These committees) are being established in advance of the new schools being opened in the 2026-27 school year,” said Griffith-Jones at a recent meeting. “Any costs associated with the naming of schools are covered through the already established construction budget for each school.”

Thames Valley adopted a new focus earlier this year that allows for suggestions from school communities, rather than picking names of significant individuals, and prioritizes names of significance to local Indigenous communities.

“(We will) go through the process a full year in advance of opening so we can refer to the new schools while doing all the work,” she said. “This will take us to June to do the process, so we have lots of opportunity to reach out to First Nations communities.

SCHOOLS TO BE NAMED

• New southeast London elementary school
• New west London elementary school
• New Lucan elementary school
• New Belmont elementary school

From Jan. 6 to Jan. 24, the school board will be receiving submissions after posting appeals on social media, school newsletters and websites.

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Nominations can be submitted using the nomination forms for naming of schools, the report said.

In February, the four committees will review all the names and recommend three unranked names before they’re shared with the board of trustees on Feb. 25, the report said.

Community polling, with one vote per family, will take place from March to June.

In June, selection committees will recommend the highest-ranked name determined by the school community.

NEW SCHOOLS ALREADY NAMED

Turtle Island is an Indigenous name for the continent of North America.

Groups invited to participate in that naming process included the families of students living in the attendance area established for the school, as well as Thames Valley Indigenous students and those students living in First Nations communities.

All families of the Chippewa of the Thames First Nation, Munsee-Delaware Nation, and Oneida Nation of the Thames had an opportunity to participate, trustees learned earlier this year.

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In December 2022, trustees approved a plan to gather community input on renaming 12 schools amid a sweeping review of public institutions associated with residential schools and what critics call broader racial injustice. In March, a new policy was released outlining name changes for schools whose current name “represents a documented legacy of harm, discrimination or inequity,” trustee Beth Mai said at the time.

The board already has given new names to several London elementary schools.

Ryerson elementary school on Waterloo Street was renamed Old North in June 2022.

Trustees voted to change the name of F.D. Roosevelt elementary school on Second Street to Forest City elementary school in March 2023.

In the spring, London’s Lord Roberts French immersion school, named for a long dead British general, became Woodfield French immersion, a nod to its neighbourhood’s name.

hrivers@posmtedia.com

@HeatheratLFP

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