At a meeting of the Waterloo Area School Board Wednesday night, the names of two of the three schools slated to be changed due to their ties to the controversial figure were announced.
In Kitchener, the school formerly known as AR Kauffman became known as Hillside Public School, and in Cambridge, the school formerly known as Ryerson Public School became known as Blue Heron Public School.
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Hillside was on the shortlist for Elm and Avens, and was the most popular choice in the survey, according to a report prepared by staff ahead of Wednesday’s meeting.
It also said that the school is located on a hill and “has a good flow and respects the intent of the renaming policy.”
Commission renamed AR Kaufmann, who owned a rubber factory in the area, after it emerged that he was a proponent of using contraception as a means to prevent reproduction among the poor. voted that
Meanwhile, the Blue Heron name was a finalist alongside Mapleview, Marshland Public School and Willow River.
“The great blue heron is a bird species that inhabits the Grand River basin and still thrives today, particularly in parts of the Cambridge River,” notes a staff report on the change.
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“This bird was once featured on Welcome to Cambridge signs along 401 at the entrance to Cambridge and elsewhere.”
The decision to move on from the Ryerson name came as a result of Egerton Ryerson’s involvement in establishing the Indian boarding school system.
In March 2022, Laurel Heights Secondary School was chosen to replace Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School in Waterloo.
The change was also the result of the former prime minister’s involvement in establishing a boarding school system.
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