Langley – First, the Langley Board of Education announced that the new secondary school in the Smith neighbourhood of the Willoughby Slope will be named Emery DosdallSecondary, named for the late Emery Dosdall, a former Langley School District superintendent and deputy minister of education in the province of BC.
Dosdall, who passed away in 2020 at the age of 77, served as superintendent in the Langley School District for 13 years, a time spanning most of the 1980s and early 1990s. He was admired for being a great communicator, collaborator, and as a forward thinker whose progressive approach to education led to the decentralization of school budgeting, which gave schools the autonomy to manage their budgets. His student-centric ideas resulted in the development of alternative and choice programs in Langley.
Second, Langley Board of Education announced that the new middle school in the Smith neighbourhood of the Willoughby Slope will be named stɑtl̓əw̓ Middle School.
stɑtl̓əw̓ is a word that means ‘little river’ or ‘little creek’ in the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language. hən̓q̓əmin̓əm is a dialect that is unique to the geographic area on which the Langley School District resides and is the traditional language spoken by the people from sxwqwanAan7a+ (current Fort Langley) to
sxwxwmaekweyam7a+ (mouth of the Fraser River). As told in local Indigenous stories of creation, stɑtl̓əw̓ is a waterway that is vital to bringing salmon people home. The name stɑtl̓əw̓ signifies an acknowledgment of the land, the preservation of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language, and a renewed commitment to truth and reconciliation.
Both schools expected to open in 2027.
