The naming of new Airdrie schools set to open in September 2016 was the focus of the Rocky View Schools (RVS) board of trustees’ meeting held June 4.
Trustees approved Cooper’s Crossing School as the name for the new West Airdrie Kindergarten to Grade 4 school, and H. Lorimer School for the new East Airdrie Kindergarten to Grade 8 school.
“I really appreciate the opportunity to get a committee together,” Trustee Sylvia Eggerer said. “I feel that there was a lot of thought that went into the process.”
Previously, a competition was held in local newspapers and schools that encouraged community members to submit names for the new schools.
Criteria for the new names included specifications that names should consider prominent community members and have significance to the surrounding area.
Trustees noted Cooper’s Crossing School emerged due to its significance as both a community and family name. The Cooper family, who arrived in the area in 1892, established a legacy in grain farming.
“(The name) does have the neighbourhood feel but also the historical context,” Trustee Todd Brand said.
H. Lorimer School was named after Heloise Lorimer, the first baby born in Airdrie who became known affectionately as the “Queen of Airdrie.” She was born in 1912.
“There are great things (about this name) the students can connect to in the school setting,” Brand said. “This was an influential family in the area and I think it would make a great name for the school in King’s Heights.”
Trustees relaxed — for a “one-time only” basis — a requirement that school names only be designated to prominent community members who had been deceased for a minimum of 10 years.
Although Lorimer did not meet that requirement, trustees noted her age, 98, at the time of her death in 2010 as being reason enough to relax the requirement.
“I value the community input and I don’t want to see this being held up as it is getting close to that 10-year mark,” Trustee Bev LaPeare said.
