Up Meyers Creek without a paddle — that’s where Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board (HPEDSB) officials find themselves after the emergence of information linking the namesake of Belleville’s east-end high school to the slave industry.

The board will likely shelve plans to change the name of Moira Secondary School to Meyers Creek Secondary School to recognize that family’s surname after it came to light John Walden Meyers was involved in the slave industry in the late 1700s.

What the east-end high school will be called when classes commence in September is still anyone’s guess.

On June 19, 2017, the board endorsed an Accommodation Review Committee’s (ARC) recommendation to close Quinte and move the bulk of its students across town to Moira while others would transfer to Centennial Secondary School on Palmer Road. Part of that recommendation was to rename and rebrand Moira.

Last week at an operations and finance meeting, a motion based on the board’s principles of equity and inclusion was endorsed and will be voted on by trustees on Monday evening.

After a lengthy process that drew 314 name suggestions in 2017, Meyers Creek Secondary School was selected from a final list of five which also included Gord Downie Secondary School, Belleville East Secondary School, East Hill Secondary School and East Side High School.

Director of education, Mandy Savery-Whiteway, said in order to adhere to board policies, the renaming process will begin again following Monday’s meeting if the recommendation is endorsed.

“The school needs to be renamed because as part of the final recommendation on June 19, in 2017, the recommendation indicates the school be renamed and rebranded and it needs to be done for September, 2018,” she said. “We would have confidence in the process we would run that the committee that comes together would be provided with all the information and it will be a complete new process if that’s what the trustees approve on Monday night.”

She didn’t rule out any of the other four final selections but said the selection process would be repeated in its entirety.

A funding request for a new high school to replace the existing Moira site made to the Ministry of Education was subsequently denied .The board also asked for funding for a renovation to the current site.

In its report, the operations and finance committee revealed a former Moira student now attending Harvard University was able to reference historical documentation. The board also contacted Queen’s University to request a research paper based on historical facts. The board’s director of education had a conversation with Charmaine Nelson of McGill University, who is currently the William Lyon MacKenzie King visiting Professor of Canadian Studies at Harvard University.

Belleville native Elissa Robertson penned a letter to the editor in The Intelligencer on May 1, which sparked further research on Meyers.

“We can learn about John Meyers without celebrating him as hero, naming schools after him and disregarding the existence of the people of colour who were likely just as key in the founding of our city, but will never receive the recognition they deserve,” she wrote. “Before you start to get worried that people advocating for anti-oppressive, anti-racist and inclusive communities are actually just trying to erase history, the school board’s history department confirmed they cover local history in the curriculum.”

Savery-Whiteway said it was unfortunate the information regarding Meyers was not readily available when the name was selected. She said although it still stands as an option — pending Monday night’s trustee vote — it’s not likely the name would receive any consideration.

“We’re not taking it out of the realm of possibility, but what I will say very strongly is that we understand as public education organization that we have a duty to address any barriers or biases or discriminatory biases that might impact any of our students, employees or community,” she said. “We will make sure we have all of the information — this is interesting for us because it provides us with the opportunity to really embed the principles of equity and inclusion.”

Closing festivities for Moira will still proceed on Friday and Saturday.

bbell@postmedia.com