Schools
Robert E. Lee Elementary School Officials Vote For Name Change
District officials have been mixed on whether to re-name school named for Confederate Civil War general.

DOWNTOWN AUSTIN-UT, TX -- Robert E. Lee Elementary school officials have voted unanimously to change the school name.
The news was delivered via Twitter by the Central Austin Community Development Corp., a non-profit promoting local quality of life issues. The vote was reportedly taken by members of the campus advisory committee.
Austin ISD board members discussed the matter of a name change at its November meeting, although no formal action was taken at the time.
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Lee Elementary is among the city’s oldest schools. Located a few blocks north of the University of Texas at Austin campus, the school opened in 1939.
The name change is part of a prevailing national trend aimed at shuttering vestiges of the southern participation in the Civil War, partly aimed at preserving slavery. The movement began last summer as protests led to the taking down of the Confederate flag at many government sites.
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