The Greater Essex County District School Board's two newest schools finally have official names, one from a list of recommendations and one that was not.
The name Beacon Heights Public School passed unopposed in a vote by trustees for the new kindergarten to grade 8 school in Tecumseh.
It was the second of two final options forwarded to the board. The other name was North Shore Public School.
Trustee Connie Buckler, who chaired the committee to name that school, suggested its close proximity to Lakeshore Public School could cause confusion, and the word "north" was already used by multiple schools.
The real debate at Tuesday night's meeting came over the name for the new kindergarten to grade 12 school in Kingsville.
The shortlist included two names, Kingsville District Academy and Greater Kingsville Academy. However, the chair of the naming committee, Trustee Julia Burgess, surprised her colleagues by putting forth the name Erie Migration Academy.
She harkened back to the painful decision to close Harrow High School and suggested a name that doesn't refer to one specific community may aid the healing process. The school will take students from parts of Essex, Kingsville, and Pelee Island, and Burgess felt Erie Migration Academy was more inclusive.
The words "Erie" and "Migration" were included in the 600 submissions from the community.
Burgess also argued that "Migration" would be a tribute to the region's celebrated bird, monarch butterfly, and dragonfly migration, along with the annual influx of temporary foreign workers.
While admitting she liked the name, Trustee Nancy Armstrong felt rejecting the shortlist might be construed by some as disrespectful.
"Because I have been a parent of a school that closed at Blytheswood, and I was a teacher at Ruthven when it closed, the processes bred mistrust, and I truly think that if the parents and the committee have come up with four out of the five [names] that had Kingsville in it, that how are they going to feel?" she asked. "Is it breeding more mistrust?"
Burgess confessed the name could generate some backlash.
"I think that effigies are being made and will be burning by tomorrow," she said. "I didn't make it up. Migration was there. The students said why did you kick Migration off? I feel like you've taken something from us. This came from the committee, but just not in this form."
Ultimately, the vote was 6-2 in favour of the name, with Trustees Nancy Armstrong and Linda Qin voting against the motion.
Both schools should open in September.