In the fall of 2016, Ramsey students began a grassroots campaign to rename Ramsey. A formal exploration of renaming Ramsey began during the Indigenous People's Celebratory Assembly in November. In December, a community voices event was held to discuss whether or not we should persue renaming Ramsey, and Site Council unanimously voted to continue to explore renaming. Students and Ramsey community members submitted new name ideas, and convened a panel to narrow down and vet top ideas convened at the end of January, 2017.
The top five names were presented to the student body in February, and students voiced their preferences. At the end of February, another community voices event was held to see which name suggestions the community preferred. In March, Site Council voted 10-1 to move forward in replacing our school name with one of the following new names, in ranked order: #1 Justice Alan Page, #2 Dr. Martha Ripley and #3 Bde Ota. The top three names will be presented to the Superintendent in April, and the School Board in May, with a final School Board vote in June.
The School Board approved the name change on June 13, 2017, and Justice Page Middle School was born!
The name change was in the news many times, including the following:
Further information about the renaming process can be read in the Page Middle School case study.