Story at a glance
- Six Florida public schools will change their names, which honor Confederate military leaders.
- The changes will cost taxpayers more than $800,000.
- Calls to change the name of public institutions honoring controversial historical figures were boosted by recent Black Lives Matter protests.
Six schools in Florida are set to undergo name changes after years of community meetings debating whether or not the names were appropriate given their links to Confederate-era historical figures.
The Duval County School Board in Jacksonville, Fla., announced last Friday that the names will officially change on August 3.
Each school will be given more neutral names. The schools undergoing name changes are Joseph Finegan Elementary School, Stonewall Jackson Elementary School, J.E.B. Stuart Middle School, Kirby-Smith Middle School, Jefferson Davis Middle School and Robert E. Lee High School.
They will now be called Anchor Academy, Hidden Oaks Elementary School, Westside Middle School, Springfield Middle School, Charger Academy and Riverside High School, respectively.
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“The level of community engagement in this process was unlike anything we have ever experienced,” said School Board Chairwoman Elizabeth Andersen in the release. “The support of organizations like the Jax Chamber, the Florida Times-Union, and the NAACP demonstrate how meaningful this was to our future as a community. Every message we send our children needs to be about inclusivity and belonging. Removing Confederate names from our schools helps accomplish that.”
Schools that will keep their names paying homage to controversial historical figures are Jean Ribault Middle, Jean Ribault High and Andrew Jackson.
Over $250,000 of funding has been reallocated from beverage funding toward paying for the name changes. A separate $430,000 worth of cash and other gifts were donated by for the changes, leaving a couple hundred thousand left to meet the estimated $867,223 cost.
The call to rename of schools named for Confederate military leaders grew louder with recent Black Lives Matter protests along with demands for the removal of statues and other public homages to historical figures associated with racial oppression and slavery.
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