Once the new school year begins in the fall, the school will be renamed The Crescents School after the neighbourhood that surrounds it.
Ashley Martin, Regina Leader-Post
Updated: June 19, 2018
http://leaderpost.com/news/local-news/regina-public-school-board-votes-to-rename-davin-school-will-be-crescents-school-beginning-in-the-fallThe Regina Public School Board voted to change the name of Davin School at its Tuesday evening meeting.
When the new school year begins in the fall, the school will be renamed The Crescents School after one neighbourhood that surrounds it.
“For me it came down to the fundamental fact that Davin School is a school,” said trustee Aleana Young.
“And having a children’s school named after someone who contributed to the creation and perpetuation of the residential schools system is fundamentally wrong.”
The seven-trustee school board has deliberated for at least nine months over the name of the school, which was built in 1929 and named in honour of Nicholas Flood Davin.
School board trustee Jay Kasperski voted against the name change of Davin School. The Regina Public School Board voted to change the name of Davin School at its Tuesday evening meeting. Once the new school year begins in the fall, the school will be renamed The Crescents School after the neighbourhood that surrounds it. TROY FLEECE / Regina Leader-Post
Davin was a Regina pioneer who authored an 1879 report that recommended that the federal government establish Indian residential schools.
Trustee Jane Ekong abstained from the vote, while trustee Jay Kasperski was the lone trustee to vote against the motion.
“I do feel it is arrogant hubris for a group of trustees in 2018 to revisit and correct a decision made almost 90 years ago,” said Kasperski, “without any framework to guide that decision.”
In November, the school board launched a five-question online survey, asking the public’s opinions on the school’s name. The 1,379 results have not been made public; the school division says responses were evenly split between keeping the name and changing it.
Trustee Adam Hicks, who was elected by people in the Davin School area, agreed he heard mixed reactions.
“Being connected and listening to the community has had one very clear message in the Cathedral area,” he said. “The clear message was ‘do not change the name.’”
In hearing all kinds of feedback, Hicks said a conversation with a First Nations chief stuck with him.
A bully can create unimaginable pain and suffering, which can change an individual and set them on a different path.
Even if the bully ceases to bully, the hurt doesn’t leave that bullied individual, and feelings can resurface years later.
“This is the story of Davin,” said Hicks.
The Regina Public School Board voted to change the name of Davin School at its Tuesday evening meeting. Once the new school year begins in the fall, the school will be renamed The Crescents School after the neighbourhood that surrounds it. TROY FLEECE / Regina Leader-Post
Hicks recommended that a public reconciliation event be held in the Cathedral area next school year.
A new plaque will be made for the school, detailing the history of the school name.
The name Davin remain on the building’s masonry as a historical element, as will a plaque about Davin that already exists at the school will remain.
The plaque reads in part: “Mr. Davin … championed the cause of the rights of new settlers.”
Administration further recommended that:
A document outlining the school’s history and the decision should be placed at the school for students, staff and visitors to peruse; and, that an exhibit of artifacts from the Treaty 4 area and the Regina Industrial School be installed in the Alex Youck Museum, located at the school board office.
The school board determined at its Sept. 5 meeting that it would decide by the end of the school year whether to keep or change the name of Davin School.
It has consulted with its Elders Advisory Committee on the topic.
At a Feb. 28 special meeting of electors, a motion was passed that the school board rename Davin School. The motion was not binding.
“I don’t want the public to think that just because (the motion) passed, that that signals an intent or a direction,” board chair Katherine Gagne said following that meeting.
However, community member Florence Stratton — a Davin School alumna who presented the motion — said she hoped the motion would “add further fuel to changing the name.”
“It’s unconscionable to have a school named Davin — a SCHOOL named Davin,” she added, “… and Davin was really instrumental in bringing about the genocidal residential school system.”