Kanawha BOE makes possible Stonewall Jackson name change agenda item for July 6 meeting

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Kanawha County Board of Education will vote on whether to change the name of Stonewall Jackson Middle School at its July 6 meeting as a related public push continues.

The board heard multiple comments at its meeting Thursday about the current name, and thousands of people have signed an online petition directed to Kanawha County Schools, the city of Charleston and Gov. Jim Justice on the matter.

Jackson, who was born in Clarksburg, served as a Confederate general during the Civil War and owned slaves during his lifetime.

Stonewall Jackson Middle School opened in 1940 as a high school. According to the West Virginia Department of Education, 42% of the middle school’s student population is black compared to 4% of the state’s student population across all grade levels.

David “Tater” Knox, the Local School Improvement Council president at Stonewall Jackson Middle School and Capital High School, presented the board with a petition signed by 150 families of current and future students and letters of support from the middle school’s faculty senate and the council.

“The petition is the culmination of the years of work of hundreds of people who have been diligently striving to make this change happen,” Knox said.

“This change should have been made years ago,” he added. “There is a lot of history at Stonewall Jackson when it was a high school and there’s a lot of history now with it being a middle school, but it should have been changed long ago.”

More than 4,200 people have signed an online petition for changing the name. It also requests the school’s possible new name should honor Katherine Johnson, a black NASA mathematician whose work was instrumental in the early days of America’s space exploration efforts.

The board was first to hear comments on the proposed name change next month, but board member Becky Jordon requested the vote happen July 6, noting other issues the school board is facing. The school system’s next fiscal year begins in July and new Superintendent Tom Williams starts his tenure next month.

“It cannot just continue,” she said. “I think we need to vote on it July 6, and I think it needs to get put to rest.”

A march is scheduled to take place Saturday supporting the name change. Organizers plan on going from Abundant Life Ministries to the Kanawha County Board of Education building.





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