Beattie School of the Arts McGill Campus will be renamed Beattie Elementary.
(BRENDAN KERGIN / iNFOnews.ca)
April 05, 2016 - 6:30 PM
KAMLOOPS - The Beattie name will stay on a Kamloops school.
The school on McGill Road will not become McGill Elementary, as was the intention of a previous school district board motion, Assistant Supt. Alison Sidow says, and is returning to its historic name of Beattie Elementary.
“Its name will be back to its original name that was established 1958,” she says.
She says the board felt it was important to reflect the historical decision of the school board in 1958 to recognize the Beattie sisters, who were pioneers in Kamloops education.
The school name has been up in the air for a few months, as preparations continue to move the students and staff of Stuart Wood School from their downtown location to the school property at the intersection of McGill Road and Columbia Street, currently home to the elementary grades of Beattie School of the Arts. The arts school will amalgamate the high school and elementary campuses, with students currently at the McGill Road school set to move downtown to the JP Campus.
Sidow says the board originally voted to change the name to McGill Elementary to give the new occupants a fresh start at the building. A survey within the Stuart Wood School community suggested 50 per cent wanted to change the name to McGill, while 40 per cent where in favour of Beattie. The Beattie name also received support of a former Kamloops teacher at a school board meeting.
The board was able to consider multiple names thanks to a loophole in board policy which defines how schools are named — since the building is an old property it wasn’t covered under current policy. A miswording of the original motion to rename the Beattie school on McGill Road meant the motion had to be rescinding and the subject was up for debate again.
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