SAN ANTONIO – After several hours of discussion Monday evening the topic, NEISD district leaders opted not to rename Robert E. Lee High School.
The debate whether or not to rename the school has raged for the last five months. A petition was started by a Lee student Kayla Wilson who gathered thousands of signatures.
Monday evening she said she was disappointed by the boards vote. "I feel like there is a great majority of people who disagree with the name but they didn't have a chance to speak out 45 or so they were intimidated to speak out," Wilson said. "I just don't see how they can say the majority of the students or the majority in the community wants the name to change; I think that's very dishonest of them to say something like that."
The petition came about after the deadly mass shooting at a church in South Carolina. Despite the signatures, emails and phone calls to board members, trustees said it was not right to change the schools name.
The board also voted down a motion to continue discussion and gather more options from students, parents and staff.
But some were not upset by the boards vote, “I'm very pleased with the decision,” said David Longoria, a ’93 Lee graduate. “There it seemed like the voice of the community and some of the students that were there and staff members have made their voices heard and the board finally made the decision we're going to keep the name."
The trustees did vote to review all confederate symbols and related material at the school and will decide if those should be used in the future.