PORT TOWNSEND — Port Townsend’s new elementary school will be named Salish Coast Elementary when it opens for the 2018-19 school year.
The Port Townsend School Board voted 4-1 Monday for the name of the 68,000-square-foot school that will replace Grant Street Elementary.
Board member Laura Tucker was the lone vote against the name, saying her decision was on the spur of the moment.
“I didn’t realize I was going to do that until the very last minute,” Tucker said. “I just felt like my vote was the question mark at the end of the sentence.
“I wanted to make a statement to the community that this was a tough decision and we weren’t unanimous about it, and that’s not a bad thing.”
Salish Coast was selected from six names. Five were brought to the school board by a naming committee made up of teachers, administrators and community members, and one name was added by the board.
Kah Tai Elementary, Salish Coast Elementary, Salish Sea Elementary, Salish Trails Elementary and Chetzemoka Elementary were the top five names submitted by the naming committee, and the board added Discovery Elementary as another option.
The option Chetzemoka Elementary, named after the 19th-century S’Klallam Tribe chief, garnered significant public support. Members of the Jamestown, Lower Elwha and Port Gamble tribes all attended Monday’s meeting and submitted public comment in favor of naming the school after Chetzemoka.
“One of the things we’ve struggled with is being invisible in cities like Port Townsend,” said Jamie Valdez of the Lower Elwha tribe. “We have a shared history here.”
All the community members who spoke at Monday’s meeting spoke in support of naming the school after Chetzemoka, including 80-year-old Elaine Grinnell, a Jamestown S’Klallam tribal member and descendent of Chetzemoka.
“To me, it’s the legacy of the person and what he’s taught us through the generations,” Grinnell said. “It’s really important.”
However, the board also received emails before Monday’s meeting from community members who were very against naming the school after Chetzemoka.
“This man is not to be revered,” said Sabrina McQuillen Hill in an email to the school board. “Look into his real history before you consider ‘honoring’ him. He’s already got a park and a ferry named for him.”
Said Jacob Hill in an email: “Chetzemoka was a hero to white settlers because he sold out his own people. Also Port Townsend historically was not S’Klallam territory. Port Townsend and Indian Island were gathering places to many tribes from Alaska, Canada and coastal Washington; including Makah, Haida, Tlingit and many others.”
Tucker said had the board not received those emails, Chetzemoka likely would have been a clear winner.
“I feel like Salish Coast is a good compromise,” Tucker said. “I wanted to make sure we honored those people who were here first. I think Salish Coast does that. Not as strongly, but it does it without controversy.”
On the rubric used by the naming committee, one of the items was that the new name not cause controversy or division within the community.
“I’ve always had reservations about naming this school after any single individual,” said board chair Nathanael O’Hara during Monday’s meeting.
“People are complex. I know it’s a symbol, but what’s important is what’s happening within these classrooms.”
The new school will be expanded to include kindergarten-through-fifth-grade students. It is roughly twice the size of the more than 60-year-old Grant Street school and will cost roughly $40,085,000.
School construction will be funded mostly by a $40.9 million bond approved by voters in 2016.
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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Cydney McFarland can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 55052, or at cmcfarland@peninsuladailynews.com.
