CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Kanawha County Board of Education has five recommendations for what the former Stonewall Jackson Middle School in Charleston may be called.
After more than 6,500 entries were submitted to an online survey, the school system on Tuesday announced the top suggested names for the institution are West Side Middle School, Katherine Johnson Middle School, Charleston Middle School, Jack Perry Middle School and Booker T. Washington Middle School.
“We asked the community, students, faculty, LSIC members and anybody who wanted to weigh in to give their top two choices for potential new names for the middle school,” Kanawha County Schools communications director Briana Warner told MetroNews affiliate WCHS-AM.
The Kanawha County Board of Education voted last week to drop the name honoring the Clarksburg native and Confederate Army general. The school opened in 1940 as a high school.
According to the West Virginia Department of Education, Black children make up 42% of the school’s student population.
Warner said the board will discuss the name suggestions at its meeting Thursday. The board has until Oct. 15 to announce a new name.