Virginia School Board Votes to Restore Schools’ Confederate Names

A Virginia school board voted early Friday to reinstate the original Confederate names of two public schools.

Why it matters: The Shenandoah County School Board’s 5-1 vote in favor of the move appears to be the first such action since authorities began removing Confederate symbols from U.S. institutions and public spaces in 2020 following racial justice protests that erupted after the murder of George Floyd.

State of play: The vote reverses the board’s decision in 2020 to remove the local elementary and high schools’ association with Civil War-era Confederate leaders Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Turner Ashby.

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Driving the news: The Coalition for Better Schools, a local conservative group, pushed for the change, saying in a letter to the school board that the group believes “that revisiting this decision is essential to honor our community’s heritage and respect the wishes of the majority.”

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