Four Lee County schools to be renamed

COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO)– In an announcement released Monday, Lee County School District said they will be renaming four schools in the district currently named for Robert E. Lee. The four schools scheduled for name changes are West Lee Elementary, Lower Lee Elementary, Lee Central Middle and Lee Central High School.

The Lee County School Board says they have enlisted a renaming committee, consisting of approximately 30 community representatives including school board and staff members, to handle to renaming process.

“We cannot change the county’s name, but we do feel a need to change the names of our schools to reflect the population that we serve. We have a school district population of 98%. As a board, we believe that it is time to rename the four schools to make them more inclusive of the population,” said Sanya Moses, Chairman of the Lee County Board of Trustees.

The district says principals of the four schools will survey school and community members to put together a list of the top three significant new names.

Officials want the new school names to be more representative of the school population.

“I have spoken with some students from Lee Central High who feel that the school that they attend should not be named in honor of a confederate general,” said committee member Keel Addison.

According to  the district, principals will present the top three names to the board of trustees who will make the final decision on the new name.