The board of trustees for the Dallas Independent School District will reexamine its policy for changing the names of schools next month.
The move comes after racially charged violence in Charlottesville, Virginia over the weekend fuelled by Neo-Nazi groups who descended on the town to protest the removal of a Confederate era monument.
DISD board president Dan Micciche said Wednesday the September 14 briefing will include a discussion on renaming schools.
"I believe the Board will strongly support the renaming of schools that honor Confederate generals under either the current process or an expedited process," Micciche said.
Current policy requires parents or school leaders to bring forth a new name for a school in May and the board will vote in June on recommendations.
Robert E. Lee Elementary and Stonewall Jackson Elementary are less separated by less than a mile in East Dallas and serve as the highest profile reminders of Confederate named schools.
District 2 trustee Dustin Marshall, which includes East Dallas and Lakewood, said Wednesday he supports changing the names of both schools.
"Naming these schools wasn’t about celebrating the military prowess of a Confederate general or teaching history. It was about establishing a symbol of control and dominance of the KKK dominated Dallas society at the time,” Marshall said. “The events in Charlottesville could easily have happened in Dallas. I think we should avoid enabling that and expedite decisions that would make it clear that Dallas is not a place that is going to tolerate that kind of racial hatred.”
Albert Sidney Johnston Elementary in Oak Cliff is named after a Confederate general killed in 1862.
John H. Reagan Elementary in north Oak Cliff is named after a decorated congressman from the late 19th century who served in the Confederacy, but is also known to have voted against secession in 1861 and denounced slavery.