Petition to Change Names of Stuart and Lee HS

[Anonymous]

Stuart and Lee are plagued with numerous problems, their names being the least of them. If the county has one plugged nickel to spend on changing their names, and all the accouterments that go along with that - than I am done thinking that FCPS and the county are reasonably well-run.

How about trying to do more to improve the standing of Lee and Stuart?

I live in eastern Fairfax. No one, for the last 15 years of living in the shadows of these schools, before very VERY recently, has given a sh!t that they are named after confederate generals. It just does not matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stuart and Lee are plagued with numerous problems, their names being the least of them. If the county has one plugged nickel to spend on changing their names, and all the accouterments that go along with that - than I am done thinking that FCPS and the county are reasonably well-run.

How about trying to do more to improve the standing of Lee and Stuart?

I live in eastern Fairfax. No one, for the last 15 years of living in the shadows of these schools, before very VERY recently, has given a sh!t that they are named after confederate generals. It just does not matter.

Agree but I was done thinking they were well run years ago.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand why people think renaming a school is rewriting history. It's writing the present--a time when we realize that we don't want to honor people who fought against freedom. It doesn't mean that we forget they existed. Do we really want Lee and Stuart held up as role models?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why people think renaming a school is rewriting history. It's writing the present--a time when we realize that we don't want to honor people who fought against freedom. It doesn't mean that we forget they existed. Do we really want Lee and Stuart held up as role models?

+1

Also, I would never buy a home in a school district named after Confederate leaders.

[Anonymous]

Wow. And to think, just six years ago my DS dress up as Robert E. Lee for Halloween. It was a pretty good costume too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why people think renaming a school is rewriting history. It's writing the present--a time when we realize that we don't want to honor people who fought against freedom. It doesn't mean that we forget they existed. Do we really want Lee and Stuart held up as role models?

Truthfully, when I think of other countries that have fought civil wars, the postwar reunification process is often difficult, sometimes impossible. I think the effort to acknowledge and honor both sides in the US is positive, not negative. Even, or especially, the fact that these schools were built and named during desegregation is an extremely important part of our more recent history. Renaming the schools is not rewriting history, but it is turning away from it, acting as if it didn't happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why people think renaming a school is rewriting history. It's writing the present--a time when we realize that we don't want to honor people who fought against freedom. It doesn't mean that we forget they existed. Do we really want Lee and Stuart held up as role models?

Truthfully, when I think of other countries that have fought civil wars, the postwar reunification process is often difficult, sometimes impossible. I think the effort to acknowledge and honor both sides in the US is positive, not negative. Even, or especially, the fact that these schools were built and named during desegregation is an extremely important part of our more recent history. Renaming the schools is not rewriting history, but it is turning away from it, acting as if it didn't happen.

Actually, it's not acting as if it didn't happen. It's saying it happened and we no longer support the reason the school names were chosen so we're going to now do the right thing. I can assure you, even if the schools are renamed,the civil war will still be taught in school. No one is advocating forgetting that part of our history. I really don't care about changing the name because there are bigger issues that need to be fixed in the schools, but your analysis of the motivation behind the name change is off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why people think renaming a school is rewriting history. It's writing the present--a time when we realize that we don't want to honor people who fought against freedom. It doesn't mean that we forget they existed. Do we really want Lee and Stuart held up as role models?

+1

Also, I would never buy a home in a school district named after Confederate leaders.

That is one of the reasons we did not buy in Mosby Woods.

[Anonymous]

Here is the petition asking the School board to NOT change school names:

https://www.change.org/p/fairfax-county-board-of-education-do-not-change-school-names-due-to-other-petition-to-change-school-names

[Anonymous]

I'd have to change my own name. I'm married to a descendant of a confederate officer who owned slaves. We all agree that his ancestor'sbehavior was abhorrent, but does not define who we are today.

The civil war was 150 years ago, and we've come a long way but still have work to do. There has been a renewed interest in civil war history recently which is bringing about awareness and activism, and that's a good thing. Public places andSchools especially should be named for heroes according to current standards. Fair fax was quite backwards thinking 50 years ago, but times have changed and Fairfax is no longer white and Southern. I have no problem if they decide to rename, but also recognize the impossibility of changing every name associated with the confederacy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is the petition asking the School board to NOT change school names:

https://www.change.org/p/fairfax-county-board-of-education-do-not-change-school-names-due-to-other-petition-to-change-school-names

Thanks for posting.

[Anonymous]

And Hayfield - it was named after Washington's hayfields, which were worked by slaves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you really want money spent on this?

Yes. I would like to see money spent giving a clear message to AA youth that they matter, and that their experience in school matters.

all 5 of them

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow. And to think, just six years ago my DS dress up as Robert E. Lee for Halloween. It was a pretty good costume too!

Darth Vader is another great costume. I also love the Dick Nixon masks. No one is saying you can't dress up as a villain or creep for Halloween. I would, though, object to naming a school after them.

[Anonymous]

Why in the world would we want our public institutions to be named after people who committed treason? Why don't we have a Tokyo Rose High School?