West-end school gets hybrid name

Westview Freedom Academy is the name for the new westend high school that will replace Forster and Century high schools starting next fall.

The name was approved last week by trustees of the Greater Essex County District School Board.

“It was a hybrid name, put together from a number of different suggestions put forward,” board spokesman Scott Scantlebury said of the naming process, which invited input from students and residents in the west end.

The first component, Westview, is a recognition of where the school’s located. Scantlebury said students and residents wanted there be a reference to the west end.

The second component, Freedom, recognizes the role the west end has played as a terminus for people escaping tyranny and starting a new life in Canada, he said. That tradition goes back to the original Town of Sandwich’s role as a destination for escaped slaves from the Southern U.S. on the Underground Railroad. But more recently, the west end has been the first Canadian home for many refugees and immigrants from around the world.

The third reference, Academy, gives the school’s name a certain dignity, Scantlebury said.

Both Forster and Century are closing in the spring, victims of declining enrolment. Century will be revamped to welcome students from both schools, as the Westview Freedom Academy. While Century has a capacity of 850 to 900 students, Westview will probably start out with 500 to 600 students, plus the English as a second language program that has operated out of Forster.

Renovations of Century will start in late January or early February and continue through the summer.

The next step in the creation of this new school is coming up with school colours, a nickname and a mascot.