Virginia School Board Votes to Restore Confederate Names

Facts

• A Virginia school board voted for two public schools to revert to their original Confederate names early Friday.¹
• The Shenandoah County School Board's 5-1 vote reverses the 2020 decision to change the name of Stonewall Jackson High School to Mountain View High School and Ashby-Lee Elementary School to Honey Run Elementary School.²
• The decision, taken following a summer of intense Black Lives Matter protests, was reportedly made without public input due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a Freedom of Information Act request, the name change happened before the board held a virtual meeting.³
• In April, the Coalition for Better Schools claimed that a survey of the community found that a vast majority of respondents supported restoring the Confederate names. It tried to reverse the decision in 2022, but the school board stalled the measure in a 3-3 vote.⁴
• The development comes after the State Supreme Court issued two rulings that limit pandemic-era school board decisions taken virtually.⁵
• In the wake of George Floyd's murder and the emergence of tense national discourse about race relations in 2020, at least 160 Confederate symbols have been taken down or removed from public spaces.²

Sources: ¹BBC News, ²NBC, ³Real America's Voice News, ⁴Wusa9.Com and ⁵Just The News.

Narratives

• Right narrative, as provided by Coalition for Better Schools. The push to restore the names of Stonewall Jackson High School and Ashby Lee Elementary is about respecting Virginia's history and honoring the democratic will of the community. For years, the legacies of Confederate icons have been tarnished by modernist historicism that ignores context and cultural significance. Moreover, the school board's rash 2020 decision ignored the will of the Shenandoah community, and the people deserve to have their voices heard.
• Left narrative, as provided by Daily Kos. America has been pushing to remove Confederate symbols for good reason — the treasonous and racist legacy of the Confederacy shouldn't be celebrated. Restoring the names and honoring the legacies of people like Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson actively undo steps made toward achieving racial justice, and act as a slap in the face to the Black community. Symbols of the Confederacy are symbols of bigotry, and those who support them are motivated by hate and ignorance.

Predictions