Stuart High Renaming: County Asks For Donations To Cover Costs

FALLS CHURCH, VA—J.E.B. Stuart High School will change to Justice High School, but it's now a matter of how to cover the costs.

The school district has set up a website to collect donations to cover the costs. As of Friday morning, more than $8,400 has been raised. Donations are tax deductible, and surplus donations will cover student programs at the school.

The total cost of a name change could be up to $1 million. Data presented to the school board before the vote showed a complete name change adds up to $800,620, while removing J.E.B. but keeping Stuart costs $512,572.

The school board voted for Justice High School at its meeting last week to represent Justices Thurgood Marshall, Barbara Rose Johns, Louis Gonzaga Mendez Jr., and others who have fought for justice.

School board members had been split on naming the school after just one of the names but came to a consensus on Justice High School with a 7-4 vote. Community members had voted for their first, second and third choices back in September. The top choice was actually Stuart High School, but Marshall and the other names combined to represent more votes.

The high school was named for J.E.B. Stuart in 1959, several years after Brown v. Board of Education ruled segregation unconstitutional. Thurgood Marshall argued and won the case as the plaintiff, suing the Board of Education over what he saw as illegal segregation.

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.

The next step is to plan how to implement the change by mid-December. It would happen by the start of the 2019-20 school year, according to WTOP. See the donation page here.

Image via Matt Barakat/Associated Press