THUNDER BAY - A new elementary school being built on the city’s south side is still without a name after Lakehead Public School Board trustees decided to postpone a vote on a recommendation that would give it a name similar to another not-for-profit school in the city.
Earlier this month, the board’s standing committee voted 6-2 in favour of naming the new school École Northern Lights Public School and it was left to the trustees to ratify the decision.
During a regular meeting of the Lakehead Public School Board Tuesday evening, the trustees were presented with a motion that read: “It is recommended that Lakehead District School Board approve the name of the new elementary school as École Northern Lights Public School.”
However, before the vote on Tuesday, board chair Ellen Chambers said a question was brought to her attention via an email regarding whether or not the ad hoc committee in charge of recommending a name was dissolved. Chambers did not say who raised the question.
“When somebody brings forward a question, you have to answer the question,” she said following the meeting. “I do not know why it was brought forward now. Maybe they just noticed it. I have no idea. But they brought it forward and we needed to answer that question and that is why we went through that process.”
According to the Board’s bylaws, an ad hoc committee is only dissolved when the work it was charged with doing is complete. Because the school has not yet been named, trustees interpreted the committee has not completed its task and therefore not dissolved.
“The majority of people around the table looked at that wording and said: no, the task was not complete, we do not have a name for our school yet, therefore our committee still continues,” Chambers said.
Following that interpretation, the trustees voted in favour of postponing the original motion until a special meeting to be held next month.
“To paraphrase what one of the trustees at the table said in wanting to be in favour of postponement is we wanted to make sure we had the full breadth of our community’s consideration about what they wanted for their name,” Chambers said.
The recommended name of École Northern Lights Public School, which was voted on by families from Edgewater Park and Agnew H. Johnston Public Schools, generated controversy because it is very similar to the not-for-profit Northern Lights School that opened in 2017.
The Thunder Bay French-Language Catholic School Board is named Aurora Borealis.
According to Chambers, the decision by the trustees on Tuesday is about ensuring the process is clear and straight.
“This is about going forward with our process,” she said. “We have to make sure we do it correctly. It was pointed out that we had made a few mistakes, so we rectified those mistakes and now we can go forward.”
“It has nothing to do with skirting the question. I don’t know what’s going to come to us. We now know, we have verified, and all agreed that the committee can continue its work.”
Chambers said it is up to the naming committee as to whether it will meet prior to the June meeting. But the original motion as it reads, which includes the name École Northern Lights Public School will be brought back to the trustees.
“We postponed that motion of that recommendation to June 13,” she said. “So the recommendation will come on June 13 and that recommendation has a name in it.”
