OKC board votes 7-0 to change school names
Oklahoma City School Board members voted unanimously Monday night to change the names of three schools named after Confederate leaders amid little protest.
The board voted 7-0 to rename Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Isaac Stand Watie elementary schools, which Superintendent Aurora Lora previously said do not “reflect our values in 2017.”
After the vote, board member Charles Henry referenced Lora by saying “it never reflected our values.”
“It is the right thing to do for our kids and for the people who had to live this history,” board Chairwoman Paula Lewis said.
Larry Logan, representing Sons of Confederate Veterans, urged the board not to change the names of the schools because he said it would alter history.
“They may change the name of those schools, but those men are honorable men and they always will be,” Logan said. “Their memories will live on.”
After the vote, the district launched an online survey to find suitable replacement names for the schools in south Oklahoma City.
“As the district begins the input process to determine the names these facilities will bear moving forward, I hope to use it as a teachable moment for our students and to establish a positive image and a sense of pride for these school communities to carry them into the future,” Lora said.
Parents, teachers, students and community members are encouraged to participate in the survey, which is open until Nov. 30, district officials said.
The survey can be found online at goo.gl/ JeZ86n
District officials estimate it will cost $40,400 to remove the names from all three schools, including engravings in stone entrances at Jackson, 2601 S Villa, and Stand Watie, 3517 S Linn.
“We are going to do everything we can to improve upon that cost,” said Scott Randall, the district’s chief operating officer.
A local attorney with ties to Oklahoma City Public Schools has agreed to pay to remove all signs and symbols associated with the schools’ Confederate namesakes.
Kyle Sweet, a health care attorney with offices in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, has told The Oklahoman that he’s more interested in doing the right thing than making a political statement.
Board member Ron Millican, who represents Lee, 424 SW 29, said he doesn’t think the district should pay to remove the names.
“I’m not opposed to changing the names,” he said. “I don’t think our budget merits this type of cost at this time.
“This would be an added expense to our
budget, and I’m not in favor of that at all.”
Following the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, during a protest about the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, several Oklahoma City school board members called for renaming the schools.
“The God that I serve says all men are created equal,” board member Ruth Veales said after the vote.
“Once we know better we are obligated under his word.”
Henry, the most vocal member of the panel regarding the name changes, has said the men for whom the schools are named represent “symbols of slavery.”
“I think this is something that is historical and great for us,” he said.
Last month, historians told the board that a fourth school — Wheeler Elementary — was not named after Confederate Gen. Joseph Wheeler after all. The district plans to dedicate the school in honor of James Wheeler, a former city father.