By Alaa Elassar, CNN
A school board in Florida has voted to rename six of its schools named after Confederate leaders after community members demanded the change.
After debating the issue for a year, the Duval County School Board in Jacksonville approved on Tuesday the district’s recommendations to strip and replace the names.
The schools to be renamed are Joseph Finegan Elementary School, Stonewall Jackson Elementary School, J.E.B. Stuart Middle School, Kirby-Smith Middle School, Jefferson Davis Middle School and Robert E. Lee High School.
“The level of community engagement in this process was unlike anything we have ever experienced,” school board Chairwoman Elizabeth Andersen said in a statement. “The support of organizations like the Jax Chamber, the Florida Times-Union, and the NAACP demonstrate how meaningful this was to our future as a community. Every message we send our children needs to be about inclusivity and belonging. Removing Confederate names from our schools helps accomplish that.”
