Renamed Justice High School Will Get A New Mascot

FALLS CHURCH, VA—With the renaming of J.E.B. Stuart High School to Justice High School comes a change of mascot. Students have selected "Wolves" as the new mascot to replace "Raiders."

“I am excited to see students are engaged in the transformation of their school,” said Superintendent Scott S. Brabrand in a statement. J.E.B. Stuart High has been flourishing under the current school staff, students, and parents including achieving full state accreditation. This school and community will ensure that the first class of 'Wolves' at Justice High School are role models for future generations.”

The name change to Justice High School comes with a cost, as the school will need to change buildings to uniforms and the mascot. The revised estimated cost presented to the Fairfax County Public Schools board in December was $428,412.

The school district is moving forward with a plan implementing the name in time for the 2018-19 school year. The board has granted the superintendent access to $267,741 in fiscal year 2018 reserve funds and $160,671 in fiscal year 2019 reserve funds. The 2018 total included $25,450 in donations from the community as of mid-December. That total has grown to over $43,000 as of Jan. 18. Donations will reduce the amount of reserve funds taken out.

In October, the school board voted for Justice High School as the new name to represent Justices Thurgood Marshall, Barbara Rose Johns, Louis Gonzaga Mendez Jr., and others who have fought for justice. Residents living in the school's boundaries voted in September for their preferences, which were Stuart, Justice Thurgood Marshall, Barbara Rose Johns, Peace Valley and Louis Gonzaga Mendez, Jr. Stuart garnered the most votes, but school board decided on Justice High by combining votes for Marshall, Johns and Mendez.

The vote came after a two-year effort to change the school's name. 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 Brown v. Board of Education 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.

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Image via Matt Barakat/Associated Press