Wednesday, October 30, 2019 ~ LANGFORD
EDITORIAL: by Mary P Brooke ~ West Shore Voice News
Langford is getting two new schools — one elementary and one middle — that will open for September 2022. The naming process involves public input up to November 1.
The Sooke School District 62 (SD62) board policy is to name the schools with reference to geographical location or a person’s name with historical context, with Indigenous consideration as well.
The fact there’s interest well beyond the schools themselves is indicative of how important these buildings (and what they represent) are to the community.
So far the historical persons names include such suggestions as John Horgan, Stew Young, Rob Fleming (Education Minister), Sarah Beckett Memorial, Stephen Harper, and Gord Downie. The names with geographical references so far include Westhills, Langford, Langford Lake, and Goldstream.
If you consider that geography is more than land, there are suggestions inspired by the street name of the schools (Constellation Avenue), including Starlight, Galaxy, Bright Star, Ursa Minor, and Milky Way. Some nature-related names are in there too: Orca, Sitka, Douglas, Camas, and even Nematode. Indigenous names include Coast Salish.
Langford has much to be proud of. Hopefully the board will think big on this choice. It won’t be an easy decision.
But for the light, happy energy of children in elementary one hopes the name does not come with a heavy burden, and for the middle school hopefully the name brings inspiration for life planning that soon lies ahead. You can’t get much brighter or enduring than starlight, and you can’t get much bigger than a galaxy.
====== RELATED
SD62 seeking public input on two new schools in Langford – article first published October 25 in West Shore Voice News
This editorial was first published on page 2 in the October 25, 2019 print/PDF edition of West Shore Voice News