Petition aims to change name of Minnesota high school for 2nd time in months

There’s a push to change the name of one Minnesota high school, just months after it was already given a new name.

In June, the District 197 School Board voted to replace Henry Sibley High School with the name Two Rivers High School, citing the controversial past of Minnesota’s first governor.

Now, one former student is gaining signatures on a petition to change it once again.

"To move away from Henry Sibley was probably a really good thing, it’s just where are we going from here is the question," said David Skadron, who started the petition, Students for Helen Sibley.

His idea is to name the school after Helen Sibley, the daughter of Henry Sibley.

"We look at Henry Sibley and he made a ton of terrible mistakes that he shouldn’t be honored for but that doesn’t mean that Helen Sibley shouldn’t be honored for what she has been able to accomplish," Skadron said.

Skadron believes Helen Sibley keeps some of the tradition of the name, but also represents someone much different than her father.

"I think it sends a really bold message that we would name our school after his daughter, who is a Native American who he didn’t want to associate with because she was Native American," Skadron said.

"As a board, we’re really proud of the new name," said Joanne Mansur, District 197 Board chairwoman.

Mansur says a lot went into picking Two Rivers, which signifies the union of the two nearby rivers, and it included a naming committee with students, parents and faculty.

"We really feel like this was a very open and transparent process and one that was well communicated to the community," Mansur said.

Plus, there was one important parameter laid out early on.

"We as a board said we don’t want to have the name be named after a person," Mansur said.

Despite the latest petition, Mansur tells 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS they don’t plan to change the name following this petition.

"We appreciate the feedback, we understand in any decision you’re not going to make everyone happy," Mansur said.

"When you have to change a name, it makes sense you don’t want to offend people and that’s what they were trying to do. We have a great school board that was trying to do the right thing it was just the name that they chose ended up not being great," Skadron said.

There is a board meeting on Monday at 5 p.m. and this issue isn’t on the agenda. Skadron says he and others are expected to address the board during the public comment portion of the meeting regarding this issue.