Brother André school name changes on hold

There are no set plans to incorporate Brother André’s sainthood at schools named in his honour at the present time, though one school board has already vowed to name its next school after Canada’s newest saint.

“It’s the community’s prerogative,” said Jim Nicoletti, principal at Brother André Catholic High School in Markham, Ont.

“The superintendent was waiting for direction from the trustees to come out and meet with our parent council to get the ball rolling,” said Nicoletti, adding that because it’s an election year, “it’s not happening too quickly.”

Nicoletti said the approval of a school’s name change goes through trustees. He said the issue will be discussed at an upcoming school council meeting Nov. 9.

“And then the trustees will have to pass the motion to change the name because they named the school originally through a motion,” said Michael Nasello, superintendent of the York Catholic District School Board.

The Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board has already made its decision. At its Oct. 26 meeting, trustees voted to name the board’s next school, slated to open in 2013 in Brampton, Ont., after St. Brother André.

“This is a great opportunity for us to honour a man who, for many years, has been synonymous with the Catholic Church in Canada,” said John Kostoff, Dufferin-Peel’s director of education.

At Brother André Catholic School in Ajax, Ont., vice-principal Kathryn Hadden said they’ve updated their school prayer so that students now say St. André instead of Blessed Brother André.

“But for right now, we’re not changing our school name,” Hadden said.

In Ottawa, principal Patricia Phalen of Brother André Catholic School echoed this sentiment. She said the board policy for the changing of a school name dictates that it’s the community that usually gets involved.

“At this point, we have no plans,” she said. “But if the community decides that they would like to go through that process then we will do that.”