Confederate High School Name Dropped For 'Justice'

FALLS CHURCH, VA — After years of discussing the matter, the Fairfax County School Board has finally landed on a million-dollar decision to rename J.E.B. Stuart High School after controversy over having a school named for a Confederate general.

The school's new name is one that most anybody can get behind: Justice High School. WTOP reported that Sandy Evans, a School Board member, said the name is meant to honor Supreme Court Justices Thurgood Marshall, Barbara Rose Johns, Louis Gonzaga Mendez Jr., and others who have fought for justice and equality in the United States.

In September, residents living in the school's boundaries voted for their first, second and third choices from a list of about 70 suggested names. The school board voted to remove the name of Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart from the school in July, but keeping the last name isn't out of the question.

These were residents' top choices:

1. Stuart/Stuart Raiders - 917 points
2. Justice Thurgood Marshall - 763 points
3. Barbara Rose Johns - 737 points
4. Peace Valley - 494 points
5. Louis Gonzaga Mendez, Jr. - 328 points

Not only was Stuart the top choice, but it's also the cheapest option. According to data being presented to the school board, a complete name change adds up to $800,620, while removing J.E.B. but keeping Stuart costs $512,572.

The high school was named for J.E.B. Stuart in 1959, several years after Brown v. Board of Education ruled segregation unconstitutional. It is speculated that the naming was in response to the Supreme Court decision as something of a protest, though it's entirely possible that the name could just have been a way to honor a military general.

Thurgood Marshall argued and won the case as the plaintiff, suing the Board of Education over what he saw as illegal segregation. Marshall was later appointed to the Supreme Court in 1967.

There was contention at the School Board meeting over naming the school after Louis Gonzaga Mendez, Jr., a highly decorated Army officer who parachuted behind enemy lines in the invasion of Normandy, or after Thurgood Marshall, as well as others.

They finally came to the decision, on a substitute motion, to simply name the school Justice High School. WTOP reported that their next step is to plan, by mid-December, how to implement the name change.

Article image via Fairfax County Public Schools