Residents packed into the Mathews High School media center Tuesday night—coming out to express their opinions, pro and con, on a proposal to change the name of the county’s Lee-Jackson Elementary School.
For about an hour at the start of the Mathews County School Board meeting, people gave their reasons why the school, named for Confederate Gens. Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, should either keep its name or jettison it. Following public hearings at the start and conclusion of Tuesday’s meeting, sentiment ran two-to-one to keep the current name unchanged, with six asking for the change and a dozen opposed to it.
No action tonight
Before the public was invited to speak, school board chairman John Priest addressed the crowd. Calling it a “delicate situation,” Priest said that first and foremost, he wanted everyone to know that no action would be taken on the matter that night.
“This is going to be studied,” he said. The process will involve the establishment of a subcomm...