Just over a year after voting to remove “Robert E.” from the front of Lee Elementary School in North Amarillo, a full name change is on the school board’s agenda.
Next week, the Amarillo ISD Board of Trustees will vote on changing the name of Lee Elementary School to Park Hills Elementary. The proposed vote will come shortly after the board ordered a process to consider all factors in renaming the school.
The lead-up to this moment has been a difficult one for the board, as AISD Trustees voted in 4-3 to remove “Robert E.” from the name of Lee Elementary in 2018. However, several members of the community, including several regular attendees at school board meetings, had been calling for a complete name change at the school.
During the board’s meeting in May, outgoing school board president John Ben Blanchard said he was hoping to see the name change approved after he left the board.
“My hope is that the name of Lee Elementary will be changed to something that is not divisive or offensive to our community,” Blanchard said at the time.
In addition to the possible renaming, Trustees will discuss the process to review applicants for two vacant school board seats during the meeting. Approval of the upcoming school year’s Student Code of Conduct is also on the agenda.
The board will meet at 6PM on Monday, July 15th in the Board Room of the AISD Education Support Center (7200 Interstate 40 West).
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