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Holding signs such as “You take the trust out of trustee,” “Justice on Jasperson,” and “Kids don’t migrate, they graduate,” students parents and alumni once again gathered in front of Kingsville District High School Friday to protest the chosen name of the new school set to open in the fall.
The Greater Essex County District School Board chose the name Erie Migration Academy at its Feb. 20 meeting, setting aside the two suggestions from an extensive public consultation process, Kingsville District Academy and Greater Kingsville Academy.
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The name Erie Migration Academy was introduced at the board meeting by Kingsville Trustee Julia Burgess, though variations of it were considered by the school naming committee, which Burgess chaired.
Setting aside recommendations from the naming committee is permitted by the board’s rules.
Participants at a protest held Feb. 23 at the school voiced many of the same concerns as those who attended Friday’s gathering.
Many want Kingsville to be part of the school’s name.
“Kingsville’s got to be in there,” said John van Wingerden, who said he was former a three-term school board trustee representing LaSalle.
Van Wingerden attended Kingsville District High School, which will close when the new kindergarten to Grade 12 school opens on Jasperson Drive.
“The kids looked like they had two or three good ideas,” he said, referring to the students who sat on the naming committee.
Van Wingerden moved back to Kingsville 20 years ago.
Kingsville wasn’t like Amherstburg, he said. In 2021, the board set aside a name suggested by a local naming committee, Amherstburg District, because General Amherst, a British army commander in the 18th century, advocated giving small pox to Indigenous people.
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Kingsville was named after the first settler James King.
“I’m hoping (the board) goes out there again and looks at the whole thing.”
Ozzie Marlott, a Grade 11 student at KDHS, was there to protest the name change.
“I want to see that we are able to vote for the name that (the students) picked initially,” said Marlott.
“Maybe Kingsville, maybe something to do with the current mascot (the Cavaliers), or some sort of homage to Kingsville.
“I think the start of the process for the name was fair, and it got changed. I don’t think that was fair, which is why we’re protesting.”
Rayne McIntyre, a Grade 8 student at Kingsville Public School, will attend the new school next year.
“I feel like it’s not fair for Miss Burgess to completely toss aside the names we provided,” he said.
He wants to see “Kingsville in there somewhere.” As for the rest of the school name, McIntyre is “good with anything.”
Colin Pyne, a Grade 12 student at Essex District High School and a student trustee for the county on the board, originally voted in favour of the name, but now wants the school board to reconsider.
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Student trustees’ votes are not part of the official decision-making process and are non-binding.
“I was asked by my student senators if I could come out and support them (at the protest), especially with what’s going on with the school name,” he said. “And I thought it was appropriate for me to be here.”
He said he was originally hesitant to go with the new name, but he voted in favour of Erie Migration Academy because he was under the impression at the board that it was what students wanted.
“I think that we need to reconsider and relook at how that was chosen,” he said Friday.
“We need to put the pride aside and make a decision that these students can be proud of to go to their new school. They are not proud of EMA and what it stands for currently.”
The acronym has an unfortunate urban slang meaning.
“I think we need to go back and honour what the (naming) committee has stated, which would be Kingsville Distract Academy,” Pyne said.
Lucas Schrader, a Grade 9 student at KDHS, wants the name revisited.
“I think we should have Kingsville in the name,” he said. “I’m a proud Kingsvillarian.”
If the board doesn’t agree to change the name, “we’ll have to suck it up,” he said.
Alex Swaddling, a Grade 9 student at KDHS, want the board to listen to students.
“We want to support our school and make sure we’re getting our voices heard by the board,” Swaddling said.
“It’s more about having our names being heard and that Julia Burgess … didn’t really consider everything that we said (in the naming process).”
The school board meets next on March 19, and there is said to be a possible motion to reconsider the name of the new school at the meeting.
bamacleod@postmedia.com
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