Facilities Management

Confederacy controversy: More Houston schools will get new names

Decision to change the names of 3 schools comes a month after board voted to rename 4 campuses.
Feb. 12, 2016

The Houston school board has voted to rename three more campuses named for men tied to the Confederacy.

The Houston Chronicle reports that the board's action is the result of efforts that began last year after the slaying of nine African-American members of a church in Charleston, S.C.

The campuses that will get new names: Albert Sidney Johnston and Sidney Lanier middle schools and Jefferson Davis High School. Last month, the board voted to rename four other schools, but put off decisions on Johnson, Lanier and Davis campuses until Thursday. Johnston was a high-ranking Confederate general, Lanier was a Confederate soldier and poet, and Davis was president of the Confederacy.

No decision has been made about an eighth Houston school--Reagan High School, named for John H. Reagan, postmaster general of the Confederacy.

Nearly all the votes were along racial lines; black and Hispanic board members voted to change the names.

The district estimates that changing the school names will cost about $250,000 per campus.

About the Author

Mike Kennedy

Senior Editor

Mike Kennedy, senior editor, has written for AS&U on a wide range of educational issues since 1999.

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