Trustees of the North East Independent School District voted unanimously in a special meeting Tuesday to rename Robert E. Lee High School.
It’s up now to district administrators who, beginning next month, will develop a plan for renaming the school that has carried the name of the Confederate general since opening its doors in 1958. The school will continue to be known as Robert E. Lee High School for the 2017-18 school year.
Focusing on the safety of current and future students, school board members said the name has proven a divisive distraction in the growing national debate around monuments and memorials dedicated to the memory of Confederate leaders in the Civil War.
The board’s special meeting was prompted by an online petition calling for the school’s name to be changed. The decision, announced in a packed board room, followed heated on- and off-discussions among community members, students, and alumni. The board did not take public comments during the session.
In 2015, NEISD debated changing the name of the school but eventually voted 5-2 to keep the name.
Trustee Sandi Wolff said that at that time there was no process for changing school names across North East ISD, so the board did not support a name change. Wolff, who represents the district that includes Lee but is resigning from the board because she’s moving, made a motion for the name change in her final meeting.
This time around, Wolff and her fellow trustees said they were troubled by the violence surrounding recent debates over the removal of Confederate monuments nationwide. That included a violent clash in Charlottesville, Virginia, between white nationalists opposed to the removal of a statue of Lee and counterdemonstrators, leading to the death of one woman and injuries to other peaceful protesters.
Board President Shannon Grona said the name Robert E. Lee may cause division, but that changing the name would be costly and would not reduce the tension that exists in the community or the nation. However, Grona said that as a trustee she had a duty to uphold the district’s principles, emphasizing student education and safety. She expressed disappointment in the extreme voices heard in the heated debate.
“Our students deserve so much better than that,” she said.
The San Antonio City Council has scheduled a vote Thursday on removing a Confederate statue from Travis Park.
In the end for NEISD, Wolff said a priority must be placed on the welfare and education of current and future students at Lee and district-wide. Wolff applauded the Student Committee for Change, a group led by current Lee students pushing for a name change.
The student group offered its own proposal aimed at securing at least 60% support from among current students, 30% support from alumni who graduated in the last five years, and helping the NEISD to offset costs of a changing the school’s name. The group also pledged to help come up with possible new names.
“It is the students who matter to me first, and when they reached out to me, I was impressed,” Wolff said.
“Our board ultimately is providing the safest educational environment, one that is filled with opportunities to learn and explore, which includes civil discourse,” Wolff said.
Board Vice President Brigitte Perkins said she does not necessarily agree with all of the reasons for removing the Lee name, but acknowledged the emotional debate distracts from the school district’s overarching goal of educating children.
“Quite frankly, this is a no-win situation,” Perkins said.
Perkins also said she felt “bullied” into considering a difficult decision based more on public pressure and emotion.
“It is of great concern that a person’s history can be distorted and be used for a person’s hatred and bigotry in today’s world,” board Secretary Sandy Hughey said, referring to Lee.
Hughey said she could not support a name change partially because it would be costly to the NEISD, requiring changes in signage, sports uniforms, and other items. But Hughey said she feared for the safety of the students petitioning for the name change.
The board recently voted not to give employees a raise, with some trustees blaming the state Legislature for not properly addressing public education financing in its special session.
“It is unfair to expect a district that’s already financial strapped to enter into more debt when it can’t even give its own teachers a raise,” Hughey said.
Board member Tony Jaso said the national debate around Confederate monuments and memorials has made it difficult to have a civil discussion about such issues.
“Nationally this debate has created an overly charged environment and a lack of respect for differing opinions,” he said. “It represents a potential danger to our children at this school, aside from being a colossal distraction from our primary mission – to educate and develop the whole child.”
Board member Jim Wheat said the district must first consider the well-being of its students, faculty and staff. He added that any changes would be only in name and logo for the high school.
“Disruptions in safety and concerns were not at the forefront of what we talked about two years ago, but now they certainly are,” he also said.
Trustee Edd White addressed alumni, some of whom were dressed in attire bearing the school’s name, telling them they could still be proud of their school and all they did there.
“There’s passion on both sides of this issue, and I am not sure there’s a win-win solution,” he said, adding it is time for a new school name “that will stand the test of time.”
Wolff said it will take time for administrators to form a plan for changing the name and that nobody really knows exactly how much it will cost the district.
Fernando Rocha, a 1982 Lee graduate, was unhappy with the decision.
“I personally understand the decision given the environment,” he said. “It’s unfortunate and I don’t think it’s warranted, but every single person in there kept repeating it’s about the safety of the kids.”
Solstiz Ibarra Campos, a Lee senior, supported the name change.
“I feel great,” he said. “Like one of the board members said, change won’t happen overnight and we are going to have ‘Lee’ on our diplomas,” he said. “But the change is progress.”
Campos said his group would work to help the district to raise funds and get input on a new name. The student group members wore a button with a hashtag #ChangeLee. Shortly after the board decision, the group’s Facebook page changed the hashtag to #ChangedLee.
Rename it Barack Obama High School.
BS
It’s sad but typical of the progressive minds that want to demonstrate the “tolerance” they preach but whose actions are intolerant and hypocritical. To rename Lee to something that is more politically correct provides a wonderful insight into the mush filled heads to the students and more importantly the gutless, emotionally charged school board. This was bound to happen and the trend was established over twenty years ago when then Principal Fish led the charge to remove the Confederate battle flag from all school property. I’m glad I attended and graduated from Lee when it was a successful school during a time when political correctness was just a wishful thought for the Left. But as time marches on the emotion filled, fact less and cowardly Left continues to grow like a cancer. This attempt at historical cleansing is just another sign of the hate filled progressive agenda that vilifies a history that doesn’t fit with their perception of what is “right”. Perhaps renaming Lee to Martin Luther King High School or Francisco Villa High School might satisfy this segment of American society that hates all things white.
I’m glad you enjoy living in the past. The rest of us are going to move on to a brighter future with ever fewer commemorations to the traitorous Confederacy and its leaders like Gen. Lee. There’s no “attempt at historical cleansing” here, just a recognition that Lee should be contextualized in history classrooms and museums, not honored in the lobby of a public high school.
S it
“Let’s end political correctness” = Let’s make it socially acceptable to be an a@@hole.
I find Mr. Johnson’s reply interesting. I can only guess that his reasoning is fortified by the fact that he is a graduate of Lee High and that he is, as he accused everyone else of, having an emotional reaction. To whom are we being intolerant of? A man who fought to keep his fellow man opposed? Or Mr. Johnson, do you stand by the claim that the Confederacy was fighting for State’s rights, no more? I wonder what the first right they hoped to maintain was? As far as the renaming suggestions you provided. I think Dr. King would be a fine choice, who represents the many diverse students that make up the student body. I can only guess that your suggestion of Francisco “Pacho” Villa is a back-handed slap at what you see as political correctness gone amok. It’s interesting though… As a rebel who fought against central authority including his own government, he was still loved as a cultural hero…he very much fits the General Lee mold.
I wonder if Mr. Johnson has every considered how his alma matter chose it’s name? Would the NEISD school board of 1958, which I presume was not very diverse, have been celebrating the accomplishments of a Virginian from nearly a century before? Or was it because they were trying to send a message about the matter of desegregation starting to stir up in what I can only assume Mr. Johnson would bill a “fact less and cowardly” trend.
As a taxpayer, homeowner and parent in the NEISD, who will eventually send my two caucasian girls to the school we reference today…I’m proud of my board and the “mush filled heads” of those students who have taken a stand.
The school name could be changed to honor local Tejano hero Juan Seguin, Alamo courier and first Tejano mayor of San Antonio in the Republic of Texas. Whatever name is decided upon, keep it local and keep it Texan/Tejano.
Let’s just name the school after Donald Trump.
As a 1965 graduate of Robert E Lee High School, I have read the petition and responses of all, and feel that an unjust decision has been made. Among the belittling of Lee’s name and actions, not one person stated the facts that Lee was a West Point Graduate, was a Hero in the Mexican-American War (which basically saved Texas from another invasion from General Santa Anna), was asked by President Lincoln to be CIC of the Army (which Lee reluctantly turned down, feeling that his Duty lay with the State of Virginia), and eventually very reluctantly accepted command of the Confederate Army. This man, Lee, was torn emotionally by the times he lived.
There’s no difference between a traitorous leader of a rebellion and a “very reluctant” traitorous leader of a rebellion.
I agree. It is sad that when Lee was given the choice, he chose to command an insurrection against the very people he had served for and with before. And he contribiuted to the economic ruin of millions and deaths of hundred thoassnds. All unnecessary. Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware were also slave states who chose not to seceed and throw it away to try and keep human beings enslaved for their economic benefit and because they saw them as less than human. Tragic and not commendable.
I’m glad that all of the students will be safe now. From what, exactly?
This is the STUPIDEST act this district has ever done! Did ANY OF YOU bother to find out what kind of man Robert E Lee was? What do you know about him other than he was a General for the Confederate Army? Did you know he NEVER OWNED SLAVES? He was reinstated in the US Army after the war! Do you know why he sided with the South? You must not know or care!
I graduated from Lee in 1966. I came to Lee from a school in SW Louisiana in the middle of the civil rights movement! I had seen it and heard it all. At Lee there was NO racial divide! None! 0. I loved the accepting atmosphere throughout the school despite the large number and variety of students.
There is SO MUCH TO BE PROUD OF WITH ROBERT E LEE! AND YET this school board has listened to people who DID NOT EVEN ATTEND LEE and have no connection with it! Just one more nosey creep creating a problem where there NEVER HAS BEEN ONE!
I’ve lost ALL respect for the weakling cowards on this school board!
Mrs. Stanley,
I fear that you are the one who is showing your lack of understanding in this matter. You say that Robert E. Lee never owned slaves? He in fact inherited a Plantation with hundreds of slaves. There’s an account of an incident when several escaped slaves were returned to him:
“New York Daily Tribune published two anonymous letters (dated June 19, 1859[53] and June 21, 1859[54]), each claiming to have heard that Lee had the Norrises whipped, and each going so far as to claim that the overseer refused to whip the woman but that Lee took the whip and flogged her personally.” You asked if we bothered to find out what kind of man he was? Really?
I suppose someone with your limited desire to seek actual facts would probably call this “fake news” by your modern standard.
You say there was no racial divide at Lee in 1966. I wonder if you could find an African American classmate of yours to confirm that for us? You’ve alluded to the civil rights struggle that was still going on during that time. Have you ever given any thought as to why the NEISD of 1958 named the school after Lee? Would it not make any sense that it was an attempt to represent an attitude of the past. I hardly think it was to celebrate a Virginian who, nearly a century earlier, led the South into the two most disastrous campaigns of the civil war (Pickett’s Charge in Gettysburg & The Siege at Petersburg), before eventually surrendering to the government he betrayed. I’ve often wondered that with Texas’, and the South in general’s, rich history,why some hold on to those four years so tightly. What they represent is misguided ideas and the amoral side of humankind.
I do have a connection to this school. I live in this district and pay taxes. Most importantly thought, my two elementary school-aged daughters will eventually attend what is now Lee High School. I’m glad I won’t have to explain to them why we honor his name.
Mrs. Stanley, I’m proud of our school board.
I burned my diploma simply because it has Robert E. Lee on it.
Let’s just rename it Trump High School
I feel sorry for all the people with the name Robert E. Lee the next thing you know they’ll want them all tarred and feathered.
Or anyone with the name Robert Lee for that matter.
If this was in the interest of safety I think they’re making a big mistake. Way to draw incredibly negative attention to your school… idiots.
Yes. They lost the chance to keep it quiet that they were honoring a racist traitor. But i think all the locals already knew. People not local probably dont care other than now knowing that NEISD isnt stuck in the white segregationist padt.
Let all of the members of the NE school board who voted to change the name of the school put their names in a hat. Then the one who’s name is drawn is the one the school is named after.Then it will be kept local and the school will forever bear the name of the one who voted to change the name and thus glorify how enlightened that person is.
Wow. After reading the post, I’m surprised they voted for a change. Perkins needs a class on what a trustee is supposed to do in representing and not feel “bullied” when its something she personally doesnt agree with. Sandy Hughley seems to have no clue about the Civil War and personal responsibility. That might help reconcile Lee’s actual petsonal deeds and the concept of consequences. And Tony Jaso seems to think the Civil War was a he said/ he said gentlemans disagreement. This is exactly why you dont honor traitors by naming public buildings after them.
The point of history is a reason why we are here and how it got us here, we live in the present and learn its mistakes. Robert E lee was a confederate but he wanted to be with the union up north but he was born in the south. In fact why is he a target from the people, just because he had slaves? You do realize that our founding fathers had slaves way before lee was even a general. Why are we taking this as a offence that barly is anything today, many people will not be born here if it wasnt for him. Lee it’s just a average school with name and about that person with a statue so we can know how he looks like and know who he is. Many many people graduate from this school and have fond memories from the school and those who already graduated will come with question from a complete stranger saying ” what high school did you graduated”? The other person will say our beloved high school name and only to be told that it doesn’t exist. If you do not like the school, just transfer to another school and no drama will come apon or just forget about it. Why waste millions for a name change.
High Gwyn or John Punch high school