The Case for Retaining the Name Lee Middle School

 

SAN ANGELO, TX — The controversy over the name of Robert E. Lee Middle School in the San Angelo ISD is up for a vote tonight.

According to Superintendent Carl Dethloff, the Board of Trustees can vote to keep the name, change the name or put the decision off for later.

Here are arguments for keeping the name Robert E. Lee:

Lee Middle School in San Angelo, Texas

Lee Middle School in San Angelo, Texas.

In Defense of Lee Middle School

The movement to change the name is based upon Critical Race Theory, or CRT, that is against the American ideal of inclusion and respect, argued Joe Hyde, publisher of San Angelo LIVE!

Read in here.

 
San Angelo’s Civil War

This video story was about 6 weeks in the making. It covers much ground. For the beginning of this piece, we wanted to gather every argument made by a local citizen in public for renaming Robert E. Lee Middle School. Unfortunately, the man who initiated the original petition to remove the name on change.org, Jessie Ramon, refused to go on camera to argue his case. We captured his presentation to the San Angelo ISD Board of Trustees.

Watch it Here.

Robert E. Lee Middle School protest to keep the name.

Robert E. Lee Middle School protest to keep the name.

WATCH: Keep the Name

San Angelo ISD leadership weighs its options to change the name of Robert E. Lee Middle School while protesters gathered on Saturday morning on the lawn of the school to argue the Board of Trustees should keep the name. Watch video interviews with citizens wanting to keep the name, Robert E. Lee, of the middle school.

Watch it Here.

 
Midland Lee Rebels

Related to the push in San Angelo to cancel Robert E. Lee, the Midland ISD Board of Trustees decided unilaterally to remove the name from their storied high school. We went to Midland and filed this video report from a protest in support of retaining “Midland Lee Rebels” as the school and mascot name. The board eventually removed the name “Robert E. Lee” and “Lee,” renaming the school “Legacy High School.” The board kept the mascot name, “Rebels,” but redefined what a “Rebel” was. The new aged Midland Legacy Rebel is a character from the American Revolutionary War, not a Confederate from the Civil War.

Watch it Here.

Robert E. Lee in a photo taken the day after his surrender in 1865 from his apartment in Richmond, Va.

Robert E. Lee in a photo taken the day after his surrender in 1865 from his apartment in Richmond, Va. 

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