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TORONTO - The students have voted - and they want their school named after Canada's best-known ballet dancer. And after a vote by Wednesday night by trustees at the Toronto District School Board, Crestwood Public School is now Karen Kain School of the Arts.

"There aren't many schools named after a woman, and it's time," said Olivia Crouch, 12, a student at the west end school.

"Even after (Kain) retired, she kept dancing and teaching ballet classes to kids who couldn't afford (classes)" by going into community centres, said the Grade 7 student.

"That's something very notable and honourable."

The official renaming ceremony will be held late next month.

For her part, Kain, now artistic director of the National Ballet of Canada, said she's honoured.

"It's very nice to hear that there are people who understand the value of the arts to learning," she said, adding she hopes, in the future, to cross paths with some of the students who studied there "and discovered their own arts abilities."

Crestwood reopened as an arts school just last month and has two classes each of Grade 6 and 7. Next fall, it will expand to Grade 8.

Principal Helene Pfeiffer said students researched potential name choices since the first day of school, and had whittled down a long list of 40 to a short list of five: Kain, impresario Ed Mirvish, musician Jeff Healey, actor Christopher Plummer and painter Tom Thomson.