Austin School Board to Rename Robert E. Lee Elementary School

By THC Staff | March 31, 2016

 

While the conversation to rename the elementary school has been underway for awhile, the Austin School Board finally approved the vote for change.

In Hyde Park sits Robert E. Lee Elementary School, an homage to Robert E. Lee, the prominent leader of the Confederate forces during the Civil War. However, the Austin School Board “voted to start the re-naming process,” as reported by KUT, in an 8-0 approval vote, “with one board member abstaining.”

Shelby Little appealed to the board to not change the name of the school, saying “the current anti-Confederate hysteria will pass.” However, Robert Reed, in favor of the renaming vote, spoke also, stating that “the bottom line [of Robert E. Lee’s role in the Confederacy] was that he fought to keep slaves in bondage.”

The public comment session, which ran before the Austin School Board voted, got fairly tense as racial tensions were directly addressed. The board voted, then, in “support [of] Lee Elementary’s Campus Advisory Council, which wants to change the name. The council is mostly made up of parents and staff.”

The board member who chose not to vote, Ann Teich, stated that “she doesn’t believe changing school names addresses what she calls the larger issue of racism.” Regardless, the members will vote on a new option in May.