Virginia school board restores names of Confederate leaders at schools

 

Shenandoah County Public Schools in Virginia will restore the names of two schools previously named after Confederate leaders following efforts from conservative parents.

The school system had decided in 2020 to rename two schools previously monikered after three Confederate leaders. Members of the school board voted five to one on Friday to reverse that decision, meaning that Mountain View High School will again be called Stonewall Jackson High School, and that Honey Run Elementary School will once more be called Ashby-Lee Elementary School, which is named for Robert E. Lee and Turner Ashby.

The decision appears to be one of the first instances of officials restoring Confederate names or monuments after a wave of removing such memorials following the death of George Floyd four years ago, as well as the nationwide social justice protests and activism which followed.

Members of a local conservative advocacy group called the Coalition for Better Schools had asked the school board last month to restore the previous names. They conducted a survey in which they said more than 90% of residents supported the previous Confederate names. Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Turner Ashby were each citizens of Virginia.

“We understand that the decision to rename these schools was made in response to discussions surrounding Confederate symbols,” they wrote. “We believe that revisiting this decision is essential to honor our community’s heritage and respect the wishes of the majority.”

Debate over the legacy of Confederates has reemerged in recent years. Some conservatives assert that keeping Confederate monuments is important for preserving the history and culture of the American South, while others note the negative legacy of their slave ownership.

Many progressives have also called for the removal of monuments for individuals who were not Confederates, drawing rebukes from conservatives over the erasure of American history.

The vote to restore the Confederate names comes months after the Biden administration controversially removed the Confederate memorial at Arlington National Cemetery following a recommendation from the federal Naming Commission, which was created after the death of George Floyd to recommend the revision of various public memorials to Confederates. The memorial will be relocated to New Market Battlefield State Historical Park in Virginia.