Public board to vote on new name for Kingsville school

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Trustees at the Greater Essex County District School Board will vote tonight on a recommendation that the name of Erie Migration Academy, the new school set to open in Kingsville in September, be changed to Erie Migration District School.

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The recommendation does not reopen the whole name for debate, but rather recommends that the word “Academy” be stricken and replaced by “District School.”

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The name of the kindergarten to Grade 12 school, which replaces six closing or already closed schools from around Essex County, has been the subject of intense criticism in Kingsville, including the acronym, which is a vulgar term well-known to young people.

But the recommendation won’t please residents in Kingsville who have pushed hard to include the name of the town in the school name.

Opponents of the approved name held protests outside Kingsville District High School. Among the delegations to last month’s board meeting, during which several attempts to change the name failed, was Kingsville Deputy Mayor Kimberly DeYong, who appealed to trustees to include Kingsville in the school name.

A petition begun by Kingsville’s Angelina Ward remains in circulation pressing to “continue the Kingsville legacy.” As of Tuesday, it had gathered 2,600 names.

If tonight’s vote passes, trustee Linda Qin is vowing to press on with her motion made at last month’s meeting to “examine the naming procedure of Erie Migration Academy and appraise the corresponding consequences to the board.”

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Qin is unhappy with the process that led to the choosing of Erie Migration Academy as the school name. In February, trustees set aside two name recommendations emanating from an extensive public consultation process, including a naming committee, that suggested Kingsville District Academy or Greater Kingsville Academy.

Trustee Julia Burgess, who introduced the name Erie Migration Academy, has explained that in recent years the board has preferred to consider “concepts and ideas” in school names.

She also said that when Harrow High School closed eight years ago, a transition committee was told the name of the new school will be a “fresh, new name” that wouldn’t include the names of previous schools.

Tonight’s special board meeting begins at 6 p.m.

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