Edmonton Public Schools to consider renaming Prince Charles School, creating renaming committee

Dorothy S. Bass

EDMONTON —
The Edmonton General public Universities Board will take into consideration renaming one of its educational institutions and generating a new committee to evaluation the existing inventory of names at its up coming assembly this Tuesday.

Two motions are slated to be introduced to the board overseeing the next most significant college division in Alberta pertaining to the naming of faculties.

The very first will be to request a modify to the name of Prince Charles Faculty in the north facet of Edmonton. The K-6 faculty provides entire-working day kindergarten and the Awasis language and culture method, which serves the needs of city Indigenous college students.

“Many employees, relatives, and neighborhood associates have been creating the Board to ask for a change to the identify of Prince Charles University to improved replicate the college students and instructing happening in the school,” Trustee Shelagh Dunn claimed in the recommendation report for the motion.

The bulk of pupils attending Prince Charles are Very first Nations, Metis, or Inuit and Dunn stated the current identify does not effectively mirror the society and background of Indigenous pupils.

“The title of the university carries with it the history of colonization, and the heritage of colonization on this land has harmed 1st Nations, Metis and Inuit persons as a result of guidelines this kind of as household faculty,” Dunn additional.

“Community conversations on college names in Edmonton General public Colleges have highlighted the significance and electric power held by a name and the need for considerate, inclusive, and representative college names.”

The university was named soon after the Prince of Wales in 1953 who is slated to be the upcoming in line for the throne as the son of Queen Elizabeth II.

Should the motion pass, the district would commit to consult with students, family members, and team of Prince Charles School, as nicely as local community Elders and Awareness Keepers to obtain feed-back.

The next motion the board is to take into consideration includes generating a committee to evaluation all Edmonton community college names and inform a long run renaming plan for the district.

In 2017, the board handed a movement to study and create a renaming plan. The board at the time in the end did not go after the job.

Trisha Estabrooks, board chair, proposed the movement and said in the suggestion report that although the district successfully renamed two schools in September very last yr, a coordinated strategy to renaming schools ought to be produced.

“The renaming of colleges is an essential aspect of starting to be a far more anti-racist and equitable faculty division,” Estabrooks reported. “Students should be capable to see themselves reflected in the namesakes of our universities.”

If the movement passes, a special committee consisting of learners, employees, moms and dads, and community customers would be struck to create a plan draft on renaming colleges and assessment all existing names. Two trustees and other men and women involved in anti-racist do the job would also sit on the board.

“Naming a college immediately after somebody is the best honour the Board of Trustees can bestow on an person,” Estabrooks added. “Let’s be certain that the honour is still acceptable so that our college students can wander by the doors of our faculties sensation influenced, proud to be section of their college communities and experience a perception of belonging.”

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