The Pembina Hills school division has a new official moniker.
On Monday, Nov. 9, trustees voted 4-2 to change the division’s name to Pembina Hills Public Schools (PHPS) — its legal name, Pembina Hills Regional Division No. 7, remains the same.
Division communications director Suzanne Lundrigan said she used three criteria to determine whether she would recommend to a name change — the name should communicate the jurisdiction’s core business, be as short as possible and be succinct, adding that the current name didn’t meet any of those criteria.
“The first thing I noticed is that the word ‘schools isn’t mentioned anywhere in our name. We are in the business of educating students, but it isn’t communicated through our name,” said Lundrigan, who recommended the name be changed to Pembina Hills Schools.
“The No. 7 is particularly hard to see when the visual identity is scaled down and smaller type sizes are used.”
The reason why many school boards often used a division number in their names is because of a long-standing practice, she noted.
“The words division and regional are tied to the School Act and were used to describe the type of jurisdiction a school board was,” she said, adding those words are no longer necessary.
Trustee Annette Bokenfohr agreed with Lundrigan, saying the school division needed to change its name and suggested Pembina Hills Public Schools.
“The two ‘s’ sounds bother me a little bit. I think it’s smoother to break up the ‘s’ sounds by saying Pembina Hills Public Schools,” she said.
Bokenfohr added that it also communicates what the division does better.
“We are a public school division and we should advertise that in our name.”
Trustee Jan Hoffart agreed.
“I think we really have to advertise that we are a public school division,” she said. “We accept all students and we take pride in being all inclusive.
Trustee Jackie Comeau asked Lundrigan why she was recommending Pembina Hills Schools over Pembina Hills Public Schools.
Lundrigan said that as a communications person, it is always her first preference to use the shortest possible name.
Board chair Jennifer Tuininga said she looked up 10 different school divisions and found many had gone with a visual name different from their legal name.
“It is something a lot of school divisions have done, having both a public and legal name,” she said.
However, she said it was her preference to go with the shorter version.
“In some ways we use public schools as a term meaning we accept everyone, but in other ways we use it to differentiate ourselves and say we are not the same, that we are different from the Catholic and Francophone boards,” Tuininga said, adding the word public, in that sense, could be seen as divisive.
Trustee Kim Webster said her preference was to go with the Pembina Hills Schools, but wondered if the board should delay making a final decision until they could get input from school councils.
“When we amalgamated the school boards and became Pembina Hills Regional No. 7 there was opportunities for student and public involvement,” she said.
Trustee Judy Lefebvre disagreed, saying the decision was up to the trustees, adding her preference was Pembina Hills Schools.
Trustees were also concerned about what it will cost to make the switch, but Lundrigan assured them that any costs would be minimal and changes could be made incrementally.
“The first step would be using the new name in press releases and other correspondence,” she said, adding the majority of which is electronically based. “The rest can be replaced in small steps as the school division replaces signs and other things as a matter of normal wear and tear.”
