As a student who spends half my school day inside Stonewall Jackson High School, I feel deeply disturbed attending a school named after a Confederate general. No student should be forced to go to a school that glorifies cruel traitors who fought to uphold one of the most depraved systems of labor and subjugation ever devised: slavery.

In May 2024, the Shenandoah County School Board voted to restore the name Stonewall Jackson High School, despite the many voices opposing the restoration. Shortly after, a federal judge, Michael F. Urbanski, ruled that reinstating the name violates the students' First Amendment rights. Students are being compelled to promote a message they don’t believe in, merely by attending or participating in school activities. The judge described the name “Stonewall Jackson” as a symbol of racial exclusion in our public schools. Why can't our current school board recognize the same?

This name doesn't just affect Black students attending the school. It tells any student they are going to a school that doesn't view racial equality as a priority, but rather second to a distorted vision of "preserving history." This is not history; this is happening now. 

Honey Run Elementary and Mountain View High School are names that welcome all, and names most students are already familiar with. In a prior petition on Change.org, before the Judge's ruling, approximately 1,100 people signed the petition for these names to remain. 

Today, I ask the current school board to uphold justice, remove the Confederate names again, and give us names we can stand behind.

Help make Shenandoah County a place students feel proud of, not disgusted. Sign the petition.