Montgomery Public Schools Seeking Input in Renaming Three High Schools
The process to rename three high schools in underway in Montgomery Public Schools. The schools are Jefferson Davis High School, Robert E. Lee High School and Sidney Lanier High School.
Those three schools are named after men tied to the Confederacy. Last year, during national protests over the treatment of Black Americans by police and in society, a petition was circulated to demand the school names be changed.
The Montgomery County school board formed a re-naming committee to seek new names. That committee is seeking public input on what the new names should be.
The suggestion form will close May 21. The committee will consider the suggestions, but final approval will come from the Montgomery County Board of Education.
The school system will likely still have to face the consequences of the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act in changing the names. The law, which was approved in 2017, protects what are called architecturally significant buildings, memorial buildings, memorial streets and monuments located on public property for 40 or more years.
It would appear that renaming the schools would violate the act, and cause the school system to face a fine. Last year, the city of Mobile agreed to pay a $25,000 fine for removing a Confederate monument.
There has been an effort in the Alabama Legislature this year to repeal the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act, but lawmakers have taken little action.
