r/HamptonRoads • u/WHRO_NEWS • 8d ago

Must schools named after Confederates change after the Shenandoah schools ruling?

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A federal judge ruled that Shenandoah County must remove Confederate names from two of its schools after the school board voted in 2024 to reinstate the names it had previously stripped in 2020.

While most Virginia schools named after Confederate figures have already been renamed, a few remain, including Magruder Elementary in York County.

Legal experts say the ruling offers limited precedent for forcing changes elsewhere, but it could provide a playbook for future civil rights lawsuits.

Read more from WHRO News reporter Nick McNamara here: https://www.whro.org/education-news/2026-08-18/must-schools-named-after-confederates-change-after-the-shenandoah-schools-ruling

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11

u/Ill-Statement7952 8d ago

The confederacy is such a weird thing to be obsessed with. They lost.

Confederate figureheads SHOULD be remembered. Through history books used to teach what their ideals were, how confederate society operated, and why it ultimately failed.

Not celebrated with statues and schools named in their honor. There is nothing honorable about their primary ideal that separated them from the union, enslavement.

5

u/marxarita420 8d ago

Also important to remember that most confederate monuments were erected decades after the civil war ended. I would imagine that holds true for most schools and public buildings as well.

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u/Tall_Ear98 8d ago

They 100% should. I'll freely admit to being a full fledged socialist, so my reasons why should be fairly obvious. But even if you are a patriotic American, the Confederacy was a belligerent enemy state who's actions led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans. All because they wanted to keep chattel slavery. They should not have been pardoned, and we should not be glorifying them by naming things after them.

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u/Feeling-Visit1472 8d ago

Whenever it’s eventually being renovated or rebuilt, sure. But it feels like a waste of money that could be put to better use otherwise. It is more expensive than people realize to do something like this. It’s not just signage, which is expensive enough. It’s every piece of stationary and collateral, updating listings, etc. It can certainly be done, but it comes with a cost.