School Named For Robert E Lee To Be Renamed For African-American School Teacher From Denton

DENTON (CBS11) - A school in Denton named after Confederate general Robert E. Lee is going to be renamed for a local African-American school teacher.

The change is the latest effort in North Texas to rid public spaces and buildings of symbols of the Old South.

The decision to rename Lee Elementary School was made Tuesday night by a unanimous vote by the Denton ISD school board. There had been a series of public meetings about this since last year.

At the start of the 2018 school year, Lee Elementary will change to Alexander Elementary.

The school will be named after Alice Moore Alexander.

The African-American woman taught kindergarten and first grade for 45 years in Denton, spending most of her career at Fred Moore School.

That school is named for her father.

"They're changing it to African-American (name,) but they're fighting because it's a white person history," said parent Brittany Johnson. "It's just getting out of control."

Many other parents where in favor of the name change but didn't want to be interviewed.

In September, the Robert E. Lee statue in Dallas was removed after a contentious debate.