The Greater Essex County District School Board (GECDSB) held its regularly scheduled meeting last evening on April 2nd at 6:00 pm.

In addition to the standard agenda items, a special board meeting was convened first to address a singular matter: the naming of the forthcoming Kingsville K-12 school, slated to open its doors to area students this fall.

Persistent expressions of public discontent and dissatisfaction regarding the name unilaterally selected by Trustee Julia Burgess prompted the Board to reevaluate the initial choice.

However, it was evident from the agenda that the Board’s stance remained largely unchanged. The nominal alteration from “Erie Migration Academy” to “Erie Migration District School” is unlikely to pacify students and residents who have been protesting.

The board was apparently prepared for a contentious meeting when Chair Christie Nelson announced that Lori Lukinuk, self-employed Certified Parliamentarian and Honorary Member of the Ontario Association of Parliamentarians (OAP) was online to help guide the group in its deliberations.

According to her website, Lukinuk is a Parliamentary Procedure Expert.

At the outset of the meeting, Trustee Nancy Armstrong called a question of privilege to permit her to make a statement before the agenda item was read.  Lukinuk quickly jumped in to clarify that the question of privilege did not apply and directed the Chairperson that the Trustee could not make a statement about the agenda item.

Trustee Cathy Cooke wanted to know who put the motion to change the name to Erie Migration District School forward.  Lukinuk again stepped in to state that the mover was the maker of the motion.

Cooke demanded to know who brought the motion forward and said, “We have the right to know.”

Lukinuk then advised the Chair that the Trustee was not in order. Again, she said, “We have the maker of the motion and we need to move on.”

Trustee Burgess said that the special meeting was called by the Chair. She stated that she had moved to amend the previously adopted motion and confirmed that the name Erie Migration Academy had been vetted but missed the vulgar acronym.

Burgess said, “We don’t want our students bullied as a result of our acronym. The new acronym has been vetted and it’s a lesson learned.”

Lukinuk clarified that the first vote to be taken was to confirm the willingness of Trustees to end all debate about this matter and she reminded them that it needed two-thirds of the vote to pass.

Chairperson Nelson called the vote and it passed with only Trustees Armstrong, Qin and Cooke opposing.

The next vote was to address the agenda item to strike the word “Academy” from the school name and replace it with “District School.” Again, this passed with the same three Trustees opposing it.

The meeting was over in a matter of minutes.

Photo: Kingsville Times