by John Reid

Back on May 9, 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. Today, the Virginia NAACP and several students have filed a lawsuit alleging the school board violated Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Equal Educational Opportunity Act by reinstating the names. The press release is below:

On May 9, 2024, the School Board approved renaming Mountain View High School and Honey Run Elementary School to their prior Confederate names, Stonewall Jackson High School and Ashby Lee Elementary School. The three namesake Confederate leaders – Robert E. Lee, General-in-chief of the Confederate States Army, Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, Lieutenant General of the Northern Virginia’s Second Corps Army, and Turner Ashby, Brigadier General – fought to preserve slavery and segregation.

“My belief is the Shenandoah County School Board reaffirmed their commitment to White supremacy and the celebration of a race-based rebellion against the United States of America with their vote to name public schools after military leaders of the Confederate States of America,” said Rev. Cozy Bailey, Virginia NAACP President, “When students walk through the halls of renamed Stonewall Jackson High School and Ashby Lee Elementary School, they will do so with inescapable reminders of Confederate legacies that enslaved and discriminated against African-descended people. This community deserves better.”

According to the complaint, forcing Black students to attend a school honoring Confederate leaders creates a school environment that denies them an equal opportunity to an education and violates their right to Equal Protection under the Fourteenth Amendment and First Amendment right to free speech.

“By voting for Confederate names,” the release continues, “the school board is subjecting children to discrimination, said Marja Plater, Senior Counsel, Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. “A Black high schooler who wants to play on the soccer team must wear the Stonewall Jackson ‘Generals’ uniform. The student must honor a Confederate leader who fought to keep Black people in chains as slaves. Exposing children to this persistent racism and hate harms their self-worth and long-term health.”

“Public education should benefit everyone, irrespective of race or class.  Every student is entitled to an education free from discrimination,” said Ashley Joyner Chavous, Of Counsel, Covington & Burling. “The school board’s decision to reinstate the Confederate school names and imagery creates a school environment that denies students of color an equal opportunity to education. These actions are a slap in the face of the many Shenandoah County families and community members who have been working for decades to build a stronger and more cohesive community.”

Shenandoah County has a long history of running a segregated school system and opposing integration. In 1959 – five years after the US Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, the County constructed the Stonewall Jackson High School as an all-White school. The Confederate names signaled to Black students and their families that they were not welcome at the schools, and it took another several years for the first Black students to enroll in high school during the 1963-64 school year. 

The Virginia NAACP is bringing this lawsuit on behalf of its members and families, including students in the Shenandoah County school system. The families whose children attend Shenandoah County Public Schools seek the removal of Confederate names and mascots and to prevent any future naming involving Confederate leaders. 

The Virginia NAACP will not allow localities to advance white supremacy. The Virginia NAACP will continue to fight against policies and legislation that serve to send the Commonwealth of Virginia backward.

A copy of the complaint can be found here.