Could this lead to other schools renaming their institutions after Confederate leaders?

Back in 2020, several schools across the Commonwealth changed their names to no longer honor Confederate leaders. As of this morning, it seems the trend has reversed.

Earlier this morning, the Shenandoah County School Board voted 5-1 to restore the names of Mountain View High School to Stonewall Jackson High School, and Honey Run Elementary School to Ashby Lee Elementary School. This was an effort led by the group Coalition for Better Schools. They attempted to reverse the names in 2022 but it was a deadlocked vote at the time.

In April, the group sent a letter to the board claiming a survey it conducted showed overwhelming support to reverse the names back to the Confederate leaders. One response cited, “revisiting this decision is essential to honor our community’s heritage and respect the wishes of the majority.”

This could start a troubling trend not only in Virginia, but across the nation. Already we’ve seen a plethora of books banned from libraries, and if they can begin changing names in Shenandoah, what’s to stop the next group from doing the same in Manassas, or anywhere else?