Last week’s decision by North East Independent School District trustees to not rename Robert E. Lee High School was one of many instances across Texas and the nation that have officials grappling with schools named after figures whose images have tarnished with time.
“When you honor a person, you invite a conflict,” said Jay Greene, head of the University of Arkansas’ Department of Education Reform. “There’s also a risk that, whoever is honored, information will come to light that will prove embarrassing since, after all, people are flawed.”
The person whose name graces a school doesn’t have to be long gone to prove controversial. On Wednesday night, Judson Independent School District’s trustees voted 4-3 not to change the name of Dr. Willis R. Mackey High School. Mackey, a former superintendent who is still on the district’s payroll, has been called a bully by some.
Debate over Confederate names and symbols reignited over the summer after a man who posed for photos with Confederate flags was charged with killing nine African-American churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina. During the same time, protesters took to the streets across the country to denounce police shootings of African-Americans.
The Charleston shooting was part of what inspired Lee student Kayla Wilson to start a petition to change the name of her school in NEISD, which opened in 1958.
“Every day when I walk into my high school in San Antonio, Texas, I’m entering an establishment named after a Confederate general who not only fought to preserve the enslavement of human beings but fought against the United States,” she wrote.
Others have said the name of Lee High School is a matter of tradition in the community, and reject that the Confederate general’s name is inextricably tied to slavery. Lee was offered command of Union troops before agreeing to side with Virginia, his home state.
“I’d say like most people, his forces were God, family and country, in that order,” said Fernando Rocha, a Lee graduate who has had children at the campus. “It wasn’t that he was so pro-slavery.”
There are at least 188 K-12 schools — public and charter — in the U.S. that are named after Confederate figures or for places named after them, according to analysis by Vocativ. In Texas, there are 21 schools named after Lee, according to NEISD officials.
In some Texas districts, schools named after Confederates haven’t prompted school board action, while in others, officials have taken steps toward removing the names.
There have not been recent formal attempts, for instance, to change the name of Robert E. Lee Elementary in Dallas or Midland, district officials confirmed. But a policy change approved last month allows Austin’s trustees to decide whether to change the names of schools named after Confederates, the Austin American-Statesman reported. Meanwhile, Houston’s board is considering a policy that would require school names to be non-discriminatory. In August, the University of Texas at Austin removed a statue of Jefferson Davis that had stood on that school’s mall.
Publicly, NEISD trustees had been tight-lipped about their feelings on the high school’s name. But last Monday, each gave statements before voting 5-2 not to rename the school, a motion by Edd White. Trustees Letti Bresnahan, Shannon Grona, Sandy Hughey, Brigitte Perkins and Sandi Wolff voted against it.
“History is there for us to learn from in both a positive and a negative way,” Grona said. “Slavery was wrong, but we can’t rewrite history or change that it happened.”
Jim Wheat and White, who said that as an African-American he had always found the name offensive, voted in favor of changing the name.
Whether districts change the names of schools like Lee or not, the debate is healthy, Greene said. Though naming schools after people can be conflict-ridden, it’s ultimately an opportunity to shape civic values through discussion. When civic values change, communities can change the names as they see fit, he said.
In a 2007 report, Greene found U.S. schools are increasingly named after less contentious natural features, rather than people. At that time, Florida had five schools named after George Washington and 11 named after manatees.
“Schools now sound like the names of herbal teas or day spas — ‘Whispering Winds,’ ‘Hawk’s Bluff.’” But, he said, “To abandon all names and just go with Hawk’s Bluff is to abandon the teaching opportunity.”
Wheat said by phone last week that he stands by the NEISD board’s decision, but expressed concern that the board had heard from passionate people on both sides, but had not made attempts to survey more community members. He said he expects to hear more from people on both sides of the issue, though he doesn’t think the board should take up the name again unless there is some sort of circumstantial change.
Though the name will stay, Confederate symbols might not. Last Monday, NEISD also voted unanimously for a review of the school’s symbols, songs, mascots and other Confederate emblems. A report from administrators will be presented to the board later.
In 1991, the Confederate flag was removed from school-sponsored activities and uniforms at Lee. The same year, the San Antonio Independent School District renamed Jefferson Davis Middle School. It’s now S.J. Davis, after the first black person to serve on SAISD’s school board.
gkaul@express-news.net
