Reaction continues to pour in when talking about the Kelly Road Secondary and Shas Ti Secondary dual name that was approved by School District 57 Trustees Tuesday night.
The board voted 4-3 in favour of the move.
Hannah Jones graduated from KRSS in 2019 and is torn on the new name.
“I am very unsure about where I stand with it since my opinion is public with the petition but at the same time I am very welcoming to change and I think that having Shas Ti in our community is needed especially with the way they were treated in the past.”
Jones petition garnered over 11,500 signatures since launching it in February after SD 57 “engaged in the process” of changing the school’s name to Shas Ti.
She also compared the new name to a broken plate.
“You break the plate and you try and you try and glue it back together, over time, the glue is going to hold the plate together but there are some cracks in that plate and I think the aboriginal people I can’t speak on behalf of them, but from what I have read they are hurt on how the school boards decision was made.”
Jones, like many people, believed the execution from SD 57 was far from perfect.
“The school board and they recognized it and I am going to quote what they said, which was they “botched the delivery” and I think we can agree with that. It’s hard to move on now because there is so much emotion attached to everybody’s opinion.”
“The way the school board went about it was not the best and I think we can agree that they have learned something and I really do encourage them to do better when moving forward from this. It has been talked about for months and the decision has been made that both Kelly Road and Shas Ti are important.”
However, Jones thinks the negative can be turned into a positive once enough time elapses.
“I love when we recognize the history in the community and we give some meaning to it but there is meaning with Kelly Road and there is a lot of meaning with Shas Ti and I think having both names on the school is going to help us.”
“A name is just a name but there is so much more that comes with that. What is the school going to look like with the letterheading, what are the jerseys going to look like and the mascot, I don’t know but I think it’s a beautiful thing with the history and I am a sucker for that, I love that.”
The KRSS grad does partially agree with Lheidli T’enneh Chief Clay Pountney that there is somewhat of an empty feeling after the school board tried to satisfy both groups with the dual name.
“Both groups kind of lost a little and that’s what happens when you compromise. We both need to come together and be one but I do agree with Chief Pountney that it might be a little bit confusing for some kids when they either call it Kelly Road or Shas Ti and we just need to remember that the main point of this is not to have one side win or lose but to have both of us come together as one.”
The new facility is slated to open in September.
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