Houston News
1-15-2015

Four HISD Schools to Change Names
by iHeartMedia’s Corey Olson

First it was school mascots, now it's the names of the schools themselves. The Houston ISD Board of Trustees has approved a plan to change the names of four schools named after Confederate figures. Henry Grady Middle School, Richard Dowling Middle School, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson Middle School, and Lee High School will all have to change names. Four other schools named for Confederate figures--Albert Sidney Johnston Middle School, Sidney Lanier Middle School, Jefferson Davis High School and John Reagan High School--were removed from the list to allow more time for input from the community. The push for the name changes originally began last summer.

The final 5-4 vote came after more than an hour of impassioned public comment both for and against the proposals. One woman said, "We will be making things better now and we will be shaping the history that people will one day read about us--I encourage you to change these names...my time is up and so it the Confederacy's!"

But another woman argued against it. "Changing the name of a school? To me, it doesn't make sense," she told the board. "If it was going to help somebody or help something, okay, but it's not going to help anybody."

Trustee Harvin Moore voted against the plan, arguing that this was the wrong way to do it. "Name change decisions and discussions should originate from the community, and not be dictated from the board," he said before the vote. Trustee Anna Eastman also voted against the plan, arguing the district has other priorities. "Our focus needs to be 100 percent on finding a new superintendent and making sure that our 89 under-performing schools have everything they need," she said.

The schools to be changed now must form committees to make recommendations on a new name, and report back to the board by May.

http://m.ktrh.com/articles/houston-news-121300/four-hisd-schools-to-change-names-14278551/

Trustee Harvin Moore voted against the plan, arguing that this was the wrong way to do it. "Name change decisions and discussions should originate from the community, and not be dictated from the board," he said before the vote. Trustee Anna Eastman also voted against the plan, arguing the district has other priorities. "Our focus needs to be 100 percent on finding a new superintendent and making sure that our 89 under-performing schools have everything they need," she said.

This ^^^

The decision should of been made by the community. Not a board.

Sounds like some kind of PC power grab to erase history... Again.

Too many other things for schools to worry about. Jumping on a ban wagon should NOT be one of them.

Carpetbagging at it's finest!

More like " Regressionists "
Back to the middle ages.
Our children & grandchildren are in for some sh@t.

Ministry Of Truth is getting serious!

http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/book-1984-what-was-role-ministry-truth-720



With its markedly ironic title, The Ministry of Truth in George Orwell's dystopian novel, 1984, is one of the most important agencies of the government. For, an uninformed or misinformed populace can be confused, deceived, and directed easily by controlling powers. Keeping the people confused about who is at war with whom and what is the reality of things causes them to become involved in nothing and, therefore, no threat to the power structure.

Orwell's creation of this Ministry of Truth that alters history is reflective of the actions of Napoleon, who, upon his conquest of a country, immediately had the newspapers controlled by his governing powers, and it is also much like the government of Communist Russia which virtually rewrote history. During Stalin's reign, for instance, photographs were altered, many things in print were censored, and enemies of the state were murdered. One prominent and influential politician in the early days of the Soviet Union was Leon Trotsky; however, after he was marked as an enemy of the State, he was erased from the history books because he had led the Left Opposition against Joseph Stalin who had risen to power.

It'll be confusing to Houston students,
trying to figure out which MLK Jr. school they should be attending.

Al Sharpton Jr High? They could teach Tax Evasion 101.

Bunch of damn whiney butts need a time out

I want every MLK thing changed for racism

Too bad. I'm an Historian at my core, and I like to keep Historic names in place, to preserve remembrance, even when we change our minds about who we admire. On the other hand, it has always been a tradition, as well as a tool of political change, to remove the cherished symbols of those who we deafeat, from our landscapes.

By the way, to the person who posted that poster sort of thing pretending that there's a connection between ISIS overturning statues (which I haven't actually heard any reports of, but they may have done so) and Americans doing so in the Old South, it's utter nonsense.

same mentality,not really hard to grasp!

What is really, really, really, really, sad about this whole mess is the instigation of this PC crap is coming FROM the education system.

indoctrinate the kids, in 10-20 years, the liberals will have total control... it goes way beyond changing history...

They should rename them....

G.W. Bush #1 Middle School
G.W. Bush #2 Middle School
G.W. Bush #3 Middle School
G.W. Bush #4 Middle School

....just to piss the SJWs and libtards off.

IMO good.

If you want the sovereignty of choosing your own name and hero, then don't take public money.

If you're going to take federal funds and perpetuate rentier society property tax bs, then you get no control over your life.

Learn the hard way.

Handouts always come with strings.

Are you saying then that you opposed tearing down statues of Saddam in Iraq, and of Lenin in what used to be the USSR? Same mentality after all.