A petition launched Tuesday on change.org asks the Waterloo Region District School Board to consider renaming Ryerson Public School in honour of the school’s former head custodian.
“We are proposing that the school’s new name honour the late Allan Hilborn who was the head custodian at Ryerson Public School for decades, and an employee of WRDSB for 35 years,” wrote petition creator Catherine Foreman.
Earlier this month, the ad hoc committee tasked by the Waterloo Region District School Board with reviewing school names, mascots and logos that have been deemed to be harmful when viewed through "an anti-racist, decolonial and trauma-informed lens," recommended renaming Ryerson PS along with Sir John A. Mcdonald Secondary School and A.R. Kaufman PS in Kitchener.
Although Ryerson school opened in 2010 at the end of Grand Valley Drive, the original Cambridge school bearing the name opened in 1964.
Allan Hilborn Jr., who began working for the school board in 1975 and retired in 2010, died July 12, 2020.
Known as Mr. Fix-it to many, he was a lifelong resident of of the city but would often “sport a red shirt that exclaimed, ‘I’m not from Cambridge, I’m from Preston,’” reads his obit.
The obituary goes on to describe how he maintained Ryerson Public School with an “infectiously positive attitude.”
“All the students he encountered throughout his years at Ryerson recall him with fondness, often remembering his unending smile.”
Foreman writes "any student who went to Ryerson Public School remembers Mr. Hilborn. He was the go to man for anything and everything at the school.”
“He was always eager to lend a hand, or tell you a funny joke as you passed his office. Mr. Hilborn truly went above and beyond to make Ryerson a safe and happy place for both students and staff members.”
“Renaming the school after Mr. Hilborn would be a wonderful tribute to his memory, and celebrate the lifelong impact he had on the students of Ryerson Public School. He was an extraordinary person and is more than deserving of this honour.”
The petition has a goal of 500 signatures and had already surpassed 200 by Wednesday morning.
The board said it will establish an in-school renaming committee to come up with a list of suggestions.
