by WorldTribune Staff, May 10, 2024
The Shenandoah County School Board early Friday approved a proposal to restore the names of Confederate military leaders to two public schools.
The measure, which passed 5-1, reverses a 2020 decision by the board to change the names of schools that had been linked to Confederate generals Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Turner Ashby.
Nearly four years ago, the Shenandoah County School Board renamed Stonewall Jackson High School and Ashby Lee Elementary School.
That 2020 move was part of a resolution condemning racism and affirming the district’s “commitment to an inclusive school environment,” according to school board documents.
The schools had been called Mountain View High School and Honey Run Elementary School since July 2021, according to board documents.
The Coalition for Better Schools petitioned school officials to reinstate the names of Jackson, Lee and Ashby. “We believe that revisiting this decision is essential to honor our community’s heritage and respect the wishes of the majority,” the coalition wrote in an April 3 letter to the board.
The Coalition for Better Schools told CNN before the vote took place that it “has full confidence in our current school board to listen to the voice of its constituents and follow the wishes of the majority in the county. Unfortunately, the previous school board did not take those things into consideration. We believe that ‘We the People’ is an important part of our Constitution and should be upheld at every level of our government.”
Jessica Sager, a spokeswoman for Shenandoah County Public Schools, said the district has not yet obtained quotes on the estimated cost of restoring the names. In 2021, the district estimated it would spend more than $304,000 in costs related to changing the two school names and a middle school mascot, according to district documents.
Those costs were related to uniforms and equipment for athletic teams, resurfacing of a gym floor, signage in buildings and scoreboards, among other items, former Shenandoah County Public Schools Superintendent Mark Johnston told board members during a meeting last year.
The motion says that if approved, private donations would be used for the restoration of the school names and not by “the school system or government tax funds, though the SCPS will oversee disbursements relating to restoration costs,” according to Thursday’s meeting agenda.
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