The Northern Lights School Division has decided to change their name to better represent their status as a public school.
The division will now be known as Northern Lights Public Schools, as decided by the board of trustees at their June 21 meeting.
“It's a way for the public to tell between various systems, wether its francophone, separate, or public, it puts it back in the name. I'm pleased. It was Lakeland Public Schools before it became Northern Lights, so the ‘public' was in there before,” said trustee Rod Soholt.
He added, “I think there's sometimes confusion between public schools and publicly-funded schools. The only way we can identify that we are a public school, as the School Act makes provision for, is to put it in the name.”
Soholt brought forward the motion to change the name after the idea was previously voted down at a prior meeting. He explained to the board that, after consultation with other divisions who have undergone a name change, they could do it for no additional cost – phasing in the new name over time.
“I have no intention of going to Cold Lake Elementary and taking the sign down for a new one. If we need to make a change anyways, let's put it in then. If we need some new name tags for example, we'll add the new name in then.”
Changing the division name to Northern Lights Public Schools echoes efforts that are being made across the province by the Public School Boards' Association of Alberta.
“They formed an ad hoc committee on how we can promote public schools and public school branding. I sit on a committee with four of us and it's saying ‘okay, how can we promote our product?' It's really a simple objective,” explained Soholt.
Locally, the motion was met with support around the table once trustees heard phasing it in wouldn't mean additional costs for the division.
“It is self-evident to us that we're the public school board, but a new person coming in might say ‘well, are they public or not?'” noted trustee Nestor Kunec.
Trustee Garry Kissel added, “As long as we just do it on an ongoing basis, it will become part of our culture that we'll be moving towards.”
Starting immediately, the new name, Northern Lights Public Schools, will be phased in as materials are updated or replaced.
“It's who we are,” expressed board chair Arlene Hrynyk. “We celebrate the diversity in a public school. We know part of our values as the public school division, is that we believe public schools are the first choice of our communities, where children are learning and living the values of democracy together.”
