Trustee calls renaming of Kingsville school a 'disgrace' after brief meeting

A Greater Essex County District School Board member says she's reconsidering her future as a trustee aftera "disgrace" in the renaming of Kingsville's K-12 school Tuesday night.

Trustee Cathy Cooke left the special meeting of the board after a motion to amend the name of the new school to "Erie Migration District School," removing the word "academy" from the name.

The name has been controversial in the community and among students. The motion to amend the name was the lone item on the special meeting agenda.

"I'm extremely disappointed," Cooke said. "I'm extremely frustrated and I think this whole thing was a terrible mess. What they did tonight was shut everybody up.

"They didn't want trustees to talk. They didn't want to hear anything from anybody in the community. All they want to do is shove it through and that's what they did and it was wrong. It's wrong to the trustees, but more than that, it's wrong to the community."

The special meeting was brief, as trustees closed debate by calling a vote on the motion almost immediately.

The decision was made in a seven-to-four vote , immediately followed by a motion to adjourn that ended the meeting within 10 minutes.

"We have had this previous name vetted and unfortunately missed a vulgar acronym," said Trustee Julia Burgess, who made the motion to amend the name and also chaired the naming committee for the school, having chosen the previous "Erie Migration Academy" name.

"It's had a lot of discussion in the public sphere and we don't want our students, staff or community to be involved in the bullying that's associated with a vulgar acronym."

Burgess declined to comment following the meeting, referring CBC News to board chair Gale Hatfield. Hatfield did not imemdiately return a request for comment Wednesday.

Protest, petitions over naming of new Kingsville school

7 months ago

Duration 3:03

Because Burgess made the motion, she was the first to speak to it. Immediately after doing so, Burgess called for the vote on the motion closing discussion before other trustees could speak to the name.

Calling the question required a two-thirds vote of trustees and passed.

The vote on the name motion also passed by a margin of seven to four.

Immediately after that vote, trustees took a vote on a motion to adjourn and ended the meeting.

Hatfield was present via telephone, but did not chair the meeting instead, Trustee Christie Nelson acted as chair.

The board also brought in a "parliamentarian" to advise and weigh in on the procedures of the meeting.

Cooke did not stay for the public meeting.

But, she says, Tuesday's debate amounts to an acknowledgement that the naming process for the school was flawed and she wants to see the issue sent back to the naming committee.

"I don't know what I'm going to do moving forward. Do I want to belong to this board? I honestly don't know," Cooke said. "I am so disappointed at what happened tonight. It's a mess and it's wrong."

Parent says new name has crude acronym

Prior to the meeting, students told CBC News they were disappointed with the proposed new name.

"I think we would both prefer Kingsville in the name just because it's the location," said Kinsey Kendrick, one of the students who lead a walkout over the name. "If they included a word that implies an area beyond Kingsville as said before, like Kingsville District School or Greater Kingsville District School just to include everyone."

Another parent says the name once again has a crude acronym associated with it.

"The acronym would be EMDS, so another one of the 'eat my' anatomy kind of acronyms," said Corrine Ross.

"I don't think it's a good change When they wouldn't allow any input in their last meeting in March, they wouldn't allow the reconsideration of the name, but now they've reconsidered it and made a new decision."

The name Erie Migration Academy prompted student walkouts and online petitions.

The regional K-12 school is set to open its doors in September to about 1,700 students.