A name-dropping school
The Canadian Press – January 31, 2023 / 9:36 am | History: 409096
Photo: The Canadian Press
Vancouver School Board members voted unanimously in favor of renaming Lord Roberts Elementary School in the city’s West End neighborhood.
In the course of the motion, Trustee Lois Chan-Pedley told Monday night’s board meeting that “the evidence is clear that it is time to give the school a new name.”
The school’s Parents’ Advisory Committee requested the renaming from 2019 after researching the history of the school’s namesake, Lord Frederick Roberts, who led British forces during the Boer War in South Africa.
Roberts was considered one of Britain’s most successful military commanders in 1901, when the school was built, but critics now reject his methods, which included the use of concentration camps during the war and targeting the local population while Roberts served in India and Afghanistan.
In support of the motion to explore a new name, Trustee Janet Fraser thanked parents and school staff for creating a detailed biography of Roberts.
She says the information was influential in understanding why “his name and legacy don’t reflect where we are in the school district in 2023.”
The Vancouver School Board launched a new administrative policy in 2022 that allows for the renaming of a school or other board facility under several circumstances, including if requested by the community.
The policy now calls for the formation of a community-based renaming committee that must submit a final report to the board for a decision, though there is no timeline attached to the work.
Several other schools in Vancouver have been renamed recently, but Lord Roberts is the first to use the officially codified policy.
“I’m really looking forward to watching this process unfold,” Chan-Pedley told trustees just before the unanimous vote in favor of the change.
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