What started as a smoldering rumour became a full-fledged powderkeg as news broke Wednesday about the Prince George School District's plan to consider changing the name of the new Kelly Road Secondary School.
Before he knew it, School District 57 chair Tim Bennett and the rest of the board had a five-alarm blaze on their hands dealing with a divided school community that either likes or doesn't like the idea of renaming the school Shas Ti Secondary.
"Given our enthusiasm for the new direction, we acknowledge that we failed to fully engage the community connected to Kelly Road school," Bennett said. "We failed to give the Kelly Road community a heads-up that this conversation was coming to the board table and when the news broke following Tuesday night, they were caught off-guard.
"I can understand the wide range of emotions that community is feeling and will continue to feel as this process unfolds. We knew this decision would create dialogue and create conflict. I am not surprised the conversations have been the way they have been in terms of the passion people are feeling. What has surprised me is at times the dialogue is not as respectful as I would hope our community could be."
Bennett reminded that the board has not changed the name of the school. The motion made by vice-chair Trent Derrick at the end of Tuesday's public meeting which was unanimously carried by trustees called for the board to "engage in the process" of adopting a new name for the school in response to a request by Lheidli T'enneh chief Clay Pountney and elders Kenora Stewart and Clifford Quaw to consider the idea.
The name Shas Ti means "grizzly path" in the Dakelh language and it reflects the historic use of the land by the Lheidli T'enneh people for centuries as a grizzly hunting territory.
Bennett admits the board failed to communicate its plans to survey students and parents and the rest of the community in formal consultations to allow them to express their views before the trustees made any decisions, as was done over the past decade when three elementary schools were renamed. Spruceland became Spruceland Traditional, Carney Hill became Nusdeh Yoh, and Gladstone became Polaris. Moving forward, he said the board plans to follow its established guidelines in the Kelly Road discussions over the next few weeks.
The shock of the name change proposal was heightened by the fact an email sent in October to Kelly Road parents by principal Steve MacRae suggested the new school would retain its name.
"I think the name change has been a rumour in the community for awhile," said Bennett. "It stems from editorials and conversations in the community. Kelly Road was in the process of modernizing its logo for next year, so people have started to see the roadrunner (the nickname of the school's sports teams) disappear a bit.
"In terms of the actual being in front of the board it's been a relatively recent thing. There's been some conversation at our Indigenous education committee and the request by Lheidli T'enneh came very recently. There may have been rumblings over the years but nothing is considered by the board until it comes to the board table.
"Principal MacRae gave the information to the parents based on the information he had at that time. In October, there were no conversations at a school or district level to engage in a process to rename. A lot has happened in the time since that email came out and that includes the passing of Bill 41. That is the provincial government recognizing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission call to action on UNDRIP (United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples)."
In the wake of blockades created by First Nations protesters and environmental activists to support Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs who oppose Coastal GasLink pipeline about to be built through their territory near Houston, Bennett was asked if the board should have held off discussion of the Kelly Road name change proposal until after national tensions have eased.
"As individual trustees we have no power, the power is made by the corporate board and it passed a motion Tuesday night to engage in this conversation and that's the direction that the board would like to go in terms of engaging in the community about the possible name change," said Bennett.
"We recognize that the current political climate may have amplified this a bit, but at the same point these are conversations we as a district will continue to have and I'm sure we'll continue to hear feedback as we move through this process."
Tuesday's board decision touched off a wave of discontent on social media and a noon-hour student protest at the school Wednesday involved about 100 students. While some expressed support for the idea, comments on most online portals favoured keeping the Kelly Road name, including an online petition on change.org which had more than 8,400 supporters. A change.org petition in favour of renaming the school Shas Ti Secondary School gathered more than 550 names supporters by 2 p.m. Thursday.
The school district's online platforms were flooded with responses from students, parents, and community members and some of the comments were racist in their tone.
"We have to recognize we're in a difficult political climate when it comes to reconciliation and there's a lot of history and passion in that school community that's been in full force the last couple of days and some comments have not been appropriate," said Bennett. "This is an opportunity to remind everyone that your comments can have an impact on others.
"We've had the opportunity to engage with some students who have reached out to the board over the past 30 hours, having conversations about how do we keep the history of Kelly Road while continuing to move down this road to reconciliation."
The board has set up an email portal to gather direct feedback from the community to continue with its engagement process and those messages can be sent to: kellyroadfeedback@sd57.bc.ca.
The board is posting a question-and-answer release on its website - sd57.bc.ca - later today and by next week will release a schedule of the community engagement sessions and will formalize its plan.
The new $44.3 million school will replace the existing school built in the early 1960s and will have capacity for 900 students. The board has committed to finalizing the name of the new Kelly Road before the new building opens in September 2020.
Kelly Road students and parents are planning a rally at the School District 57 office on Ferry Avenue for Saturday at 10 a.m.
