Virginia School Board Votes to Restore Confederate School Names

 

 

Meeting attendees bow for prayer before the Shenandoah County, VA  School Board meeting, May 9, 2024. 

Shortly after 12:30 am this morning, May 10, 2024, on the 161st Anniversary of the death of Stonewall Jackson, the Shenandoah County Public Schools Board voted to restore the names of the Southern Campus Schools to Ashby-Lee Elementary and Stonewall Jackson High School.

 

The motion passed via 5-1 vote with Kyle Gutshall casting the only NO vote.

 

The exact language of the motion that was approved was: “I move that the names of Stonewall Jackson High School and Ashby Lee Elementary School be restored to the schools now named Mountain View High School and Honey Run Elementary School respectively. The funds required to implement the restoration must be provided by private donations exclusively and not be borne by the school system or government tax funds, though the SCPS will oversee disbursements relating to restoration costs.”

In 2020, the school board renamed the schools, both in Quicksburg, in a move that saw board members cave to outside leftist extremists, ignored the will of local citizens, and was done without public input or notice. Since that decision, two election cycles have brought in six new school board members.

In the wake of the 2020 decision, public anger and outrage was channeled into action.  A group called the Coalition for Better Schools asked the board to restore the old names, citing the need to remember the area’s War Between The States history and a belief that the 2020 school board made the renaming decision in haste. In explaining the reasoning for their “yes” vote, most school board members said they believed the 2020 board had acted inappropriately in changing the names within a matter of days without enough community input.  

Across the Commonwealth, EVERY locality which has ever been allowed to vote, has voted in overwhelming majority to keep their Confederate monuments, school names, and references. Only those in cities and counties which did not allow the people to vote have been removed, yet the media and corrupt politicians will report that this is what the people want, despite all the polling data and referendums showing otherwise. 

The good people of Shenandoah County have had their voices heard, and the wrong has been righted.  Supporters vow that this is the first of many, many more such decisions to come.