Monday August 14, 2023 | LANGFORD, BC [Updated 4:40 pm]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
The upcoming new elementary school in South Langford has finally been named.
Previously known as simply the ‘South Langford Elementary School’, the local school district Sooke School District 62 (SD62) made it official on this hot mid-August day at the construction site on Latoria Road.
Now the school has been gifted with an Indigenous name, which most of today’s speakers encouraged everyone to learn how to pronounce. Sc’ianew First Nation gifted SĆIȺNEW̱ SṮEȽIṮḴEȽ — pronounced schee-ay-nuh ska-leetk-luth — which translates to ‘salmon children’.
Getting there and being there:
Two bus loads of elected officials, SD62 executive and staff, Langford mayor and a few councillors and senior staff, a Colwood councillor, and media were shuttled from the school board office over to the site. Several Indigenous leaders attended including Beecher Bay Chief Russ Chipps and Elder Shirley Alphonse.
The trio of provincial elected officials on the outdoor stage built specifically for today’s event were Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Minister Murray Rankin; Children and Family Development Minister Mitzi Dean (MLA for the neighouring Esquimalt-Metchosin); and local MLA Ravi Parmar (Langford-Juan de Fuca). Behind the stage was a pushed-up pile of rock and dirt as a backdrop for today’s photo-op.
Representing Langford were Mayor Scott Goodmanson and city councillors Keith Yacucha, Colby Harder and Lillian Szpak; Langford’s corporate officer Braden Hutchins also attended. Colwood councillor David Grove attended. CUPE 459 rep Amber Leonard attended.
SD62 was represented by board chair Amanda Dowhy, and trustees Cendra Beaton, Russ Chipps and Ebony Logins. Numerous SD62 staff attended including Superintendent Scott Stinson, Deputy Superintendent Paul Block, Secretary-Treasurer Harold Cull, HR Executive Director Fred Hibbs, District Principal of Capital Projects Windy Beadall, communications manager Kristen McGillivray, and many others. Transportation Manager Randy Cobb drove one of the two SD62 electric buses to the site today.
Former SD62 trustee Dianna Seaton attended today.
Media in attendance at the construction site to cover this historic day included CBC, CHEK, Times Colonist, Goldstream Gazette and Island Social Trends.
Another new school in the system:
The west shore population has been growing rapidly since around 2010, and by 2014 SD62 was on its way to becoming a facility developer; several senior staff have focussed on school-related growth for almost 10 years now.
By 2018, ‘Growth’ had become one of the three key planks of the SD62 strategic plan (along with Learning and Engagement). Marketing around the 2021-2025 strategic plan includes a photo of a student in a construction hard hat.
Now that this elementary school in South Langford is underway, the next two top priorities on the SD62 capital plan are another high school in Langford (land awaits on McCallum Road), and an elementary school in the Royal Bay area of Colwood (land has also been purchased). Third on the current priority list is the future elementary school in north Langford (which has an artificial turf field adjacent already).
The upcoming SĆIȺNEW̱ SṮEȽIṮḴEȽ elementary school will be a K-5 feeder school for middle schools in the Colwood/Langford area, and also the nearby Royal Bay Secondary School.
Land and construction back-story:
The civil contract for the construction of the new SĆIȺNEW̱ SṮEȽIṮḴEȽ school was awarded back in January to Draycor Construction Ltd, a local developer in the west shore. Leveling and grading work of the school site had already begun, and construction started this spring. Construction completion is expected for September 2025.
The six-acre school site was purchased from Ridley Bros Development Ltd back in 2020, to ensure land would be available for a new 500-seat elementary school on the Westshore.
The site is located north of the intersection of Latoria Road and Klahanie Drive near the borderline with Colwood. Ridley Bros Development Ltd which is building 450 homes (single-family and townhomes) on a 73-acre parcel along the 800-block of Latoria Road (construction by Langdon Weir Construction Ltd). An elementary school site was always part of the plan along with amenities for recreation and child care.
The 2020 announcement about the $7.7 million land purchase (BC Government provided $6.74 million and SD62 contributing $960,000) was made on site by Premier John Horgan, then Education Minister Rob Fleming, and then SD62 Chair Ravi Parmar. Due to the active pandemic, apparently no media (other than one TV camera) or other stakeholders (such as municipal mayors and councillors or school trustees) were on site. Some media dialed-in via the government teleconference line.
Naming process:
The naming was expected much earlier this year. There was a preliminary name announcement back in February at which time 12 names were shortlisted. Another stab at completion of the naming was hoped for in March when the construction bid was announced and again in May the naming process was identified as delayed. Then there was summer break.
But during all of that time there was deliberation with Indigenous leadership. Today SD62 Superintendent Scott Stinson said that the naming of the news school is an expression of commitment to the reconciliation process. Chief Chipps is also an SD62 trustee, and seems to have had a strong hand in the process. Minister Rankin told media today that he would be pleased to see other schools heading in this naming direction, while acknowledging that Education and Child Care Minister Racha Singh is the lead for schools.
SD62 policy is to select a name from one of three categories: historical, geographical or Indigenous. All year, SD62 has been saying they’ve been waiting on the Indigenous consultation component to be completed. Meanwhile, the South Langford Elementary name shortlist had included the historical names of former premier John Horgan and former Langford Mayor Stew Young as well as Sarah Beckett and Scott Manning. The geographical names included Langford or South Langford, Latoria, Olympic View and Triangle Mountain.
The timing of naming a school has many implications, such as documentation during construction, development of school logo and colours, and promotion of the new school within the community.
Today’s announcement:
“Lavina Charles, a respected elder and knowledge keeper from Sc’ianew First Nation led the search for a name that reflected our culture and a place for learning. SĆIȺNEW̱ represents the richness of the sea life in our region that sustains our land and people. SṮEȽIṮḴEȽ is one of the most important words in SENĆOŦEN language because it means children and, in our culture, they are our most precious resource,” said Russ Chipps, Chief of Sc’ianew First Nation
Minister Rankin acknowledged the long service of SD62 Superintendent Scott Stinson who will be retiring at 2023 year-end. Stinson has been instrumental in ushering through this second phase of intense school infrastructure growth in SD62 since taking the school district’s lead role in 2018. He has clearly played a strong role in furthering the Indigenous reconciliation aspects of public education in the west shore and Sooke area schools.
The new MLA for Langford-Juan de Fuca, Ravi Parmar, was also at the lead of ushering in new Indigenous recognition and reconciliation within SD62 during his 10 years on the SD62 school board. That path is now under the wing of SD62’s interim board chair Amanda Dowhy: “Our Board of Education is committed to walking the path of reconciliation and one of the meaningful ways we can reflect and preserve local Indigenous culture and language is through visibility.”
The rocky terrain underfoot for today’s guests at the construction site may well symbolize the rough road that still lies ahead amidst the many adjustments that will come during the reconciliation journey.
===== RELATED:
- SD62 NEWS ARCHIVE
- South Langford school still awaits a name (May 23, 2023)
- A school with no name (March 15, 2003)
- Top picks for new school name include recent premier and mayor (February 16, 2023)
- Choosing a name for the South Langford new elementary school (January 21, 2023)
- Another new school to be built in west-shore SD62 / South Langford (June 14, 2022)
- $7.7 million to Langford developer for land for new SD62 elementary school (July 17, 2020)
===== ABOUT ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS:
Island Social Trends has been covering news of the west shore region since 2008. The publication series began with MapleLine Magazine (2008-2010), then expanded into the weekly print newspaper Sooke Voice News (2011-2013), which morphed into the colour print/PDF weekly West Shore Voice News. When the pandemic hit, we went online as Island Social Trends (mid-2020 to present).
News about the region is posted daily at IslandSocialTrends.ca including insights into provincial and national news impacts).
The entire series has been founded and edited by Mary P Brooke, B.Sc., Cert PR, and published by Brookeline Publishing House Inc.
In 2022, Mary Brooke was a school trustee candidate in SD62 Belmont Zone (Langford, Colwood, Highlands and Metchosin).
Mary P Brooke was nominated in 2023 for a Jack Webster Foundation award which recognizes a full-time woman journalist for her contribution to her community through journalism. She now also reports with the BC Legislative Press Gallery.
Ms Brooke is making presentations this fall season about the impact of social media on the survival of local journalism as well as Urban Food Resilience.