Decision to rename Beattie school deferred by Kamloops school board

KAMLOOPS – The Beattie name may stay on a Kamloops school, but that’s a decision for the end of March.

At this week’s school board meeting on Monday, March 14, a motion intended to rename the Beattie School of Arts McGill elementary for the next school year was rescinded, Kamloops-Thompson school district Supt. Karl deBruijn says.

“They rescinded it and they deferred further debate until next meeting.” he says. “They didn’t have to but wanted to allow that time as notice that they’ll be debating it.”

The initial motion was worded in such way the building renamed was the Stuart Wood school downtown, deBruijn says.

“The school in its entirety is moving up to the Beattie school, but it’s not a new building,” he says.

The school board has policy in place for the naming of new schools. However, deBruijn says that policy doesn’t actually cover renaming buildings which are being repurposed. That means the Beattie School of Arts, which will see the arts school community leaving at the end of this school year and the Stuart Wood community arriving for the next, does not necessarily need to be renamed, he says.

The board will discuss the renaming of the school at its next meeting, and look into its policy around renaming repurposed buildings. According to DeBruijn naming schools after people can be controversial depending on who the person was and what information can come forward later.

The Beattie school was named in honour of six sisters who taught in Kamloops during the city’s early years, he says.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Brendan Kergin at bkergin@infonews.ca or call 250-819-6089. To contact an editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.