Robert E. Lee Elementary School will hold a community forum with the superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District Friday night to discuss the possibility of a name change.
Debate over the school’s name was sparked by national controversy surrounding the Confederate Flag after the massacre of nine black churchgoers at a Bible study in South Carolina last summer.
Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) has been fighting to get the district to change the name because of what she describes as Confederate-related symbolism.
“I don’t think it matters,” said Everett Prince, a fifth grader at Lee Elementary. “[Kids] want to focus on what’s in school and not what the school’s named.”
The school was named in the late 1950s and serves children in the Paradise Hills community. District officials say documents show Lee's record as an “American soldier and educator” was listed as the reasons his name was chosen for the school.
“General Lee was an honorable man. I moved into this neighborhood and I was surprised the school was named after General Lee,” said local resident Sandy Leon. “I thought well that’s nice - open-mindedness in the school district.”
A flyer left at nearby houses read in part, “We don’t want outsiders coming into our community and changing the name of our beloved elementary school, Robert E. Lee Elementary.”
“I think it’s a good idea [to change the name]. We have a lot of minorities that come to this school,” said one parent.
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Another student said it was a painful choice for her. On one hand her family has history at the school, but on the other hand there is history.
“I have read a book about this in third grade and I was wondering why they would have a name after someone who supported slavery,” she told NBC7.
Friday night’s 6 p.m. meeting is the first of two discussing whether the school should be renamed.
