The Hanover County School Board is considering settling a lawsuit brought by the county’s chapter of the NAACP over public schools named for Confederate leaders.
The board announced Tuesday night that it will meet behind closed doors next week to “discuss a possible resolution to the pending lawsuit” filed in August by the NAACP over the names of Lee-Davis High School and Stonewall Jackson Middle School.
“The School Board is carefully and thoughtfully evaluating a variety of factors in its consideration of a possible resolution of the lawsuit,” School Board Chairman Roger Bourassa said Tuesday. “The School Board is committed to providing the best possible learning environment for all Hanover County students and makes every decision with the best interest of students in mind.”
Bourassa declined to say if board members had met with the NAACP before scheduling the meeting for 2 p.m. Nov. 22.
Robert Barnette, the president of the Hanover NAACP, said the group welcomed the move.
“The Hanover County Chapter of the NAACP supports the Hanover County School Board’s proposal to resolve the open lawsuit quickly and efficiently and invest in a more equitable Hanover County Public Schools,” Barnette said Wednesday morning.
Last year, the School Board voted 5-2 to retain the names of Lee-Davis, which honors Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and Stonewall Jackson, named for the Confederate lieutenant general.
The vote followed a school system poll of county residents in which 3 in 4 respondents supported keeping the names.
A year later, the NAACP’s Hanover branch sued the county over the names, saying they violate the constitutional rights of black students and their families by making them feel unwelcome and creating an unequal learning environment.
Barnette and others have spoken during public comment over the past year, continuing to ask the School Board, which has the power to change the names, to do just that.
“Repeated dismissal of the persistent pleas from the community members to change the names and mascots would suggest that there is no intention of promoting a community that embraces diversity,” Hanover resident Amber Peacock said during Tuesday night’s public comment period.
“If the school names and mascots should be changed will continue to be debated long after Nov. 22, but if Hanover County school district is to become a place where social, cultural, emotional and educational equity is achieved ... then whether the school names and mascots will be changed is quite frankly no longer debatable.”
Schools Superintendent Michael Gill has declined to weigh in on the names, saying in August that it would be “highly inappropriate” for him “to comment or take a position on this matter,” since it’s the School Board’s responsibility.
The board is also now considering the cost of changing the names. Members punted on ordering an analysis when the matter came before them in March 2018. The administration estimates the name changes would cost $495,000.
Bourassa said the board is wary of a costly, protracted legal battle.
“If the School Board decides to continue the litigation, the School Board will incur hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees and costs defending the lawsuit,” he said, adding that it could take a minimum of two years for a decision to be made in court.
“If the NAACP prevails in the lawsuit, the School Board could be responsible for the NAACP’s legal fees, which are expected to be several million dollars.”
At the end of his statement, Bourassa said both Lee-Davis and Stonewall Jackson will eventually be rebuilt and “will be renamed pursuant to existing School Board Policy.”
That policy states that no school should be named for a person, living or dead.
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“The School Board is committed to providing the best possible learning environment for all Hanover County students and makes every decision with the best interest of students in mind.”
If that were the case they would have just changed the names. No, it appears that they acted here with with the best interest of their own elected careers in mind.
Well if they won’t do it because it’s the right thing to do, it looks like they will have to do it because it is the less costly (than fighting a lawsuit they’re likely to lose anyway ) thing to do.
Conservatives standing on the wrong side of history always lose. Sometimes their surrender is an honorable concession.... sometimes they kick and scream like toddlers with a little tantrum crying “we’ll never change”.... but they are eventually forced to do the right thing. Sad that Hanover falls into the latter category.
Janis Peace commenting: Trust me, I have seen a lot of trash in my own race. I've seen more than I ever wanted to see and met more than I ever set out to meet. Unfortunately, for me especially, my very own race has turned out to be "everything more evil" than I ever thought even existed. They lie to your face, steal, you name it but one thing, I am still me, with a good heart but like the shirt says "this mouth" or in my case "these fingers"!!!
Janis Peace commenting: I am simply stating what I see in TV Commercials lately. It seems products don't want to cater to one race or the other so they put them together as a family with children. The children of a situation like this used to have a very difficult time in school but now they fit right in with each other and others. This is what people and children are seeing should they decide to sit through a TV commercial. Evidently I am not the only one noticing this because I started to mention it to someone and they said, I know exactly what you are "going" to say. Someone else must have mentioned it to them. It's okay if that is what a person or persons want to do. The problem comes in with, for example, you go out dancing. You want to stick with your race but the other race asks you to dance. Suppose several people want to dance with you of that race and you continually turn them down. It's not comfortable I wouldn't think. Not to mention you are somewhat insulting these people. You don't really mean it that way it's just you only say, date within your race. I know there are good people in all races and I could possibly see two people working together day in and day out being attracted to each other. I have thought about this a lot. I can understand should something like this happen, you follow your heart. Children in schools go to dances with everybody so eventually they will all be together. It's just common sense. When I was raised, things were different. I guess my Father would have pulled a gun should I bring home a person of another race. He wasn't too happy with some of my own race I brought home. So I think parents have a more difficult time these days parenting. I know of some who are in this situation and they don't handle it well . . . but they love the children who come out of these situations. I guess in the end, the main thing is it's all about love, isn't it? My Father in real life was not discriminatory because he worked with a lot of everybody but for his daughter, things were different. You can only imagine what an older person than this generation would think. If it was done, it was done sneakingly. It wasn't a normal practice. Just saying.
“The School Board is committed to providing the best possible learning environment for all Hanover County students and makes every decision with the best interest of students in mind.”
If that were the case they would have just changed the names. No, it appears that they acted here with with the best interest of their own elected careers in mind.
Well if they won’t do it because it’s the right thing to do, it looks like they will have to do it because it is the less costly (than fighting a lawsuit they’re likely to lose anyway ) thing to do.
Conservatives standing on the wrong side of history always lose. Sometimes their surrender is an honorable concession.... sometimes they kick and scream like toddlers with a little tantrum crying “we’ll never change”.... but they are eventually forced to do the right thing. Sad that Hanover falls into the latter category.
Before you spin your wheels with no resolution forth coming ….. there will never be a "resolution" that will calm the hate of those who do feel the descendent of white southerners, have had enought punishment to cure the pain they inflict on themselves everyday about an era, and symbols of that era, they had no control of and never will. Period.
Spacy Peter will never have a resolution to the fact that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, like most mean-spirited republicans, and that’s why the voters of VA took their toys away. Now the grownups in the room will hold votes and pass laws to bring common sense gun control laws to bear on reducing gun deaths in VA.
Janis Peace commenting: I have a couple of suggestions should the school names be changed. How about "Peace School" not after any individual but Peace, as in World Peace, or "360 School" meaning to include Everyone. Both names seem to be names which couldn't be contested. Just thinking.
Janis Peace commenting: Other thoughts: What about "River Run High School" or "Town to Country"? Both of these names also seem fitting.
I know they have a policy about using names now but I think Barrack Obama is a great name for a school.
But no doubt for the mean spirited and racist among Hanover leadership, of the schools can’t be named after confederate traitors to the nation they don’t want them
Named after anybody.
Janis Peace commenting: You know before too long, it won't matter about any names because our society is quickly becoming a whole other race. I don't know what you call the new race, I guess I'm out of touch on this subject, but all you have to do is look at the commercials on tv to see blacks and whites living together, having children together. So when we are all dead and gone, the planet will all be mixed. Just like when Europeans came here long ago and mixed with those already here, everything will just be accepted. A lot is accepted today. If we were to return a 100 years from now, this is what I think we would see: we won't know who is a woman and who is a man, all kinds of people will just be living together and you won't know who is the male and who is the female, robots will be everywhere probably committing crimes, and there will be no races. They will all just be one. Heck, they are even breeding dogs by mixing two different breeds together on purpose to sell. It's one thing if it just happens but on purpose? We won't even recognize dogs!! I'm kind'a glad I won't be here 100 years from now. I would go back to the '50's and '60's in a heartbeat. It has nothing to do with race but more about just the lifestyle without personal computers, everyone watching dirty movies, seeing everyone constantly rolling these stupid phones and texting, and a society where people connected. A place where children ran and played and had real fun after school or in the summer. Most all of today's children are only connecting by devices. I think that part is especially sad.
"all you have to do is look at the commercials on tv to see blacks and whites living together, having children together"
Janis... in psychology your condition is called "generalization". It involves making an assumption about an entire group because you witness or hear about a few incidents.
The marriage of a caucasian and African American is not new.. It has always happened.. on foreign shores if less so in the USA.
The world will not become one race of people made up of all races. White supremacists and neo-nazi's alone continue to mate based on maintaining racial "purity".
But it is thinking like that results in one or a few incidents of crimes being attributed to undocumented immigrants that results in Rump standing up and saying "they are sending us their murderers and rapists". It is SO easy for one of the poorly educated people that Rump says he loves to hear about one Mexican committing a crime or filling a job that a white man wanted ... and extrapolate that to an entire race. Easy and stupid... sums up Rump's base pretty well.
Janis Peace commenting: Hanover County has a ratio of about 84 % White to 9 or so percent Black with the remainder maybe Hispanic. These are not exact figures but close. So because someone wants to change the school names and the fight will never end over this name or that name, this monument or that monument, the County will now most likely end up spending lots of money either going with the majority or going with the minority which could be spent in much better ways to further education, taking field trips to learn, etc.. What will be next once all school names are satisfactory, all monuments are gone? Will it come down to individual street names, neighborhood names, book titles, library names, and on and on? Maybe it will be the names of food in the supermarket? Where does all of this end? If the NAACP really thought about names, they might consider changing the name of their own organization. Colored People? Is this an acceptable name in today's world? I thought that term went out years ago. It became unacceptable right? Then there are the museums devoted to African Americans. Will African Americans go to these museums to be reminded of all the bad things which existed in the world years and years ago? Are schools teaching this in school books? I'm just wondering. It seems to be contradicting itself on one hand yet demanding changes on the other hand. Is my thinking totally off or what?
Spending half a million dollars to change the name of a school will not do one thing towards changing the atmosphere except, possibly, causing resentment. That money could be better spent on enhancing the educational experience of the students. If Black students feel oppressed, it's not because of the name of the school. Itis a symptom of a deeper problem. It is entirely possible that the Black students do NOT feel unequal Has anyone thought to ask the students how they feel about the name?? I'd bet not. I think the NAACP needs to shut up about the petty stuff and concentrate on REAL problems like the mess in Baltimore.
the petty stuff? Of course it's petty to you white privilege
April, please explain in detail what is white privileges?
White privilege? In this case it's whites disregarding all evidence to the contrary that an unwelcoming school environment damages test scores and being too white blinded to grasp how hurtful it is to a child of color to attend a school named after someone who fought to keep the child's ancestor's in chains.
Pretty self evident.. unless you have a blind spot due to your own white privilege.
Dribble DB, look up MLK middle school and the success it has had. $35mil, and a name all should aspire to and the results? One of the lowest performance middle schools in the state and the most CFS for police in RVA. Yes, working out well. #Changethe name for?
Naming a school after a great man doesn’t guarantee success. But naming it after someone who tried to keep people like you in chains sure throws up roadblocks to success.
Ty for you voice of reason, Naacp without stirring the pot would have no real significance
haha... NAACP's job is to make sure the pot is stirred and egregious violations of racial rights do not slide by uncommented on and unchallenged.
Are you cousin to big Al or Jesse?
None of the above but YOU have a striking likeness to David Duke.
You validate the Bell Curve
Mark Holmes and Steve Powell make a strong case for white inferiority.
“The School Board is committed to providing the best possible learning environment for all Hanover County students and makes every decision with the best interest of students in mind.”
If that were the case they would have just changed the names. No, it appears that they acted here with with the best interest of their own elected careers in mind.
Well if they won’t do it because it’s the right thing to do, it looks like they will have to do it because it is the less costly (than fighting a lawsuit they’re likely to lose anyway ) thing to do.
Conservatives standing on the wrong side of history always lose. Sometimes their surrender is an honorable concession.... sometimes they kick and scream like toddlers with a little tantrum crying “we’ll never change”.... but they are eventually forced to do the right thing. Sad that Hanover falls into the latter category.
You will always be a slave to your ignorance
.... says the ignorant who can’t refute the arguments.
I never argue with a fool.
Thanks for rebutting me then. High praise indeed!
Like I said.....
Well then, Steve, I reckon you never argue with yourself.
Welcome to the discussion.
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