Virginia education board restores Confederate names to schools

A school district in Virginia voted Friday morning to restore the names of Confederate generals to schools, becoming the first board in the country to reinstate such names after voting to remove them.

The Shenandoah County school board, representing a rural and overwhelmingly conservative area, voted 5-1 to restore the Confederate namesakes of two schools after having stripped the names in 2020 in the wake of the death of George Floyd .

The move would honor three Confederate military leaders: Army of Northern Virginia General Robert E. Lee, infantry General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, and cavalry commander Turner Ashby. Mountain View High School will now be named Stonewall Jackson High School, and Honey Run Elementary School will now be called Ashby-Lee Elementary School.

Funds to make the changes will come from private sources as opposed to tax dollars.

Shenandoah County has become the first in the country to reverse the nationwide trend of removing Confederate names of schools. At least 60 schools decided to change names since 2020. In 2022, the same board failed to approve a similar measure, after a 5-1 majority voted in 2020 to remove the names.

In 2020, the board had said removing the names was an act of "condemning racism and affirming the division’s commitment to an inclusive school environment for all."

The vote came at the request of a local group called Coalition for Better Schools, which petitioned the school board to reinstate the names, citing "cultural significance" and "historical context."

“We believe that revisiting this decision is essential to honor our community’s heritage and respect the wishes of the majority,” the group wrote . "Restoring these names would demonstrate a commitment to inclusivity, respect for history, and responsiveness to community feedback."

Coalition for Better Schools also noted that 91.3% of 1,160 respondents in a survey mailed to residents favored restoring the names.

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An opposing group, led by Sarah Kohrs, who graduated from both schools and has a child in the high school , gathered 687 signatures in a petition to keep the names.

"Their diplomas are going to state something, and I don't want it to state something linked to a Confederate general," Kohrs said. "I had to deal with that my entire life. I don't want my kids to deal with that."