The Austin Independent School District Board of Trustees Monday night to move forward with changing the names of five schools.
The schools are named for those with ties to the Confederacy:
- John T. Allan Facility, named for a Confederate Army officer who was also a lawyer, justice of the peace and state treasurer
- Zachary Taylor Fulmore Middle School, named for a Confederate army private and Travis County judge
- Sidney Lanier Early College High School, named for a man who joined the Macon Volunteers who fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War and later became a poet
- John H. Reagan Early College High School, named for the Confederate postmaster general who before the Civil War was a U.S. Congressman and served as a Texas judge and in the state legislature
- Eastside Memorial Early College High School at the Johnston Campus, named for Confederate General Albert S. Johnston
In November the district began the process of meeting with the community and students concerning a future name change. Just last week the district held community meetings to get feedback specifically looking at how a school name relates to the district’s core values.
District officials say the public is mostly supportive of these changes but it’s ultimately up to the board of trustees.
“If the board were to vote to start the renaming process than we would start the next steps which would involve community, schools, everybody to give potential input on new names for the schools and then there would be a process where a naming committee and would choose the name they like,” says Brian Hill, special projects dead for the superintendent, AISD.
AISD conducted a similar process in 2016 when Lee Elementary School in Hyde Park was renamed for Russell Lee instead of Robert E. Lee.
The overall cost to change the names of the five schools is estimated at $322,000. That price tag accounts for the cost of changing signs and banners, gym floors, uniforms and stationery, among other expenses.
(Story from KXAN)
