The Austin Monitor reported today that the Austin Independent School District board of trustees voted at its Monday meeting to continue the process for renaming an elementary school named after Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. The decision comes after a protracted debate of almost a year and was covered at length by local publications including the Monitor, the Austin American-Statesman, and The Austin Chronicle.
As the Chronicle noted in a Monday story, the renaming process began last November and was part of a larger local conversation about monuments and memorials to Confederate figures on a range of school campuses, from Lee to UT.
The Monitor's Courtney Griffin reported that the vote was 8-0-1, with District 3 Trustee Ann Teich abstaining because, "although she disagreed with the name change, many of the people who had spoken in opposition to the change had said some 'ugly things' during the process and influenced her decision."
Lee Elementary School's campus advisory board will now receive new name suggestions from the public and is tasked with presenting three choices to the school board, whose vote is needed to make any name official. That decision is slated for May.
• AISD says yes to Robert E. Lee Elementary name change [Austin Monitor]
• Renaming for Lee Elementary Begins [The Austin Chronicle]
• AISD to Consider Ridding School Names of Confederate Legacy [The Austin Chronicle]