Trustees with the Thames Valley District School Board have backed the renaming of two public schools in London, Ont., but wanted more information before lending their support to similar plans for 12 other schools.
During Tuesday’s meeting of the TVDSB’s board of trustees, the group was presented with recommendations to begin the renaming process of Sir John A. Macdonald Public School and F. D. Roosevelt Public School, “due to their namesakes’ historical ties to racism and discrimination.”
Sir John A. Macdonald Public School is named after Canada’s first prime minister, while the latter school is named after the 32nd president of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The recommendations were put forward by the TVDSB’s recently established school name review committee, which is chaired by Carl Cadogan of the London Black History Coordinating Committee. The committee was formed after trustees voted in 2021 to review the names of all TVDSB schools, facilities and learning environments.
“Macdonald’s history of racist and discriminatory political exploits is inconsistent with Thames Valley’s values and commitments in relation to human rights and equity,” the committee wrote in a report explaining its rationale for renaming the schools.
“F.D. Roosevelt’s historical connection to racism and a controversial approach to Jewish refugees during the Holocaust is inconsistent with Thames Valley’s values and commitments to human rights and equity. As an American historical political figure, Roosevelt’s legacy has limited relevance to the Thames Valley community.”
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Earlier this year, Ryerson Public School, named after Egerton Ryerson, who was instrumental in designing Canada’s residential school system, was renamed Old North Public School following a similar review by the TVDSB.
The TVDSB expects to have new names selected for the schools by March 2023.
Trustees had little debate when deciding to throw their support behind the renaming of Sir John A. Macdonald and F. D. Roosevelt, but hesitation arose when assessing a plan to rename 12 other schools.
The plan sought trustee approval to begin gathering community input about the names of those schools.
Those 12 schools were also recommended by the School Name Review Committee and are as follows:
- Lord Elgin Public School
- Lord Nelson Public School
- Lord Roberts French Immersion Public School
- Prince Charles Public School
- Princess Anne French Immersion Public School
- St. George’s Public School
- McGillivray Central Public School
- Victoria Public School
- Sir George Etienne Cartier Public School
- Lord Dorchester Secondary School
- Montcalm Secondary School
- Sir Wilfrid Laurier Secondary School
Trustee Dave Cripps asked board administration what the financial implications were for renaming a school, adding that, “if it were one or two schools, I wouldn’t be concerned, but when you start aggregating 12 to 14 schools, what does that look like?”
“We determined it would be approximately $40,000 per school,” responded Lynne Griffith-Jones, a superintendent of student achievement with the TVDSB.
TVDSB associate director Riley Culhane added that no matter the costs, the board would be able to handle the renaming of all schools mentioned.
“We have been planning for this work … and we are confident that can fulfil any recommendations that are approved by the board of trustees, with respect to the renaming of schools,” Culhane said.
Trustees ultimately voted in favour of receiving a report on the financial implications of the further renaming plans by their next meeting, which is scheduled for Dec. 20.
This means the plan to gather input on the name of the aforementioned schools can’t begin until after trustees receive that report.
— with files from Global News’ Amy Simon.
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