School communities vote to change name of Lee High School, other Confederate named schools
Community members clearly supported changing the names of six Confederate-named schools.
5/19/2021
For almost a year, Duval County Public Schools has been considering whether to change the names of six schools that were named for Confederates, and three more tied to the marginalization of Native Americans. As part of the process, school communities were able to share their input via a non-binding balloting process at the school.
Today, following a meeting of the Supervisor of Elections canvassing board, the school district released the results of the vote. The results will help inform Dr. Diana Greene's recommendation, which the School Board will vote on during the June 1 regular meeting.
The results showed clear support for changing the names of Confederate-named schools:
- 59 percent of voters wanted to change the name of Robert E. Lee High School
- 84 percent of voters want to change the name of Joseph Finegan Elementary School
- 81 percent of voters wanted to change the name of Stonewall Jackson Elementary
- 90 percent of voters wanted to change the name of Jefferson Davis Middle School
- 56 percent of voters wanted to change the name of Kirby-Smith Middle School
- 90 percent of voters wanted to change the name of J.E.B. Stuart Middle School
The results for the other three schools were mixed:
- 84 percent of voters wanted to keep the name of Jean Ribault Middle
- 85 percent of voters wanted to keep the name of Jean Ribault High
- 51 percent of voters wanted to keep the name of Andrew Jackson High School
Duval County Public Schools will be conducting a data analysis to understand how different groups voted, for example, to see how students voted compared to other stakeholder groups, including PTA members, residents of the attendance zone, school staff and alumni.