Lee Elementary’s status as notable property won’t delay name change discussion
Thursday night, members of the Lee’s school board discussed the process to request changing the school’s official name, Robert E. Lee Elementary. The building was named after Lee in the early 1900s and has remained that way even through it’s restorative rebuilding in 1934. It’s one of the oldest elementary school buildings in Columbia.
In 2014, the Historic Preservation Committee named Lee Expressive Arts Elementary School as a notable historic property.
This has been a way to introduce the public to some of Columbia’s historic and architecturally significant properties that may contribute to the city’s social or aesthetic resources.
According to the Historic Preservation Committee’s liaison and city planner Rusty Palmer, being a notable property does not “limit any owner rights, or bestow any special privileges or responsibilities on the property.”
The building is not on the National Register of Historic Places which means the board would not be required to seek approval of any changes.
The city has a process for the demolition of buildings 50-years-old or older but other than that, as long as an owner abides by city code, the signage on Rober E. Lee Elementary can be removed.
This means the final decision lies with the Board of Education.
According to Lee Elementary board member Debbie Rodman, the board agreed to ask the Columbia Schools Board of Education to consider the name change process. Courtesy of Rodman, the official request is below.
“The Lee Expressive Arts Elementary Autonomous School Board, working to provide a more inclusive environment, request the Board of Education begin a name change process for Lee in the next few months based on our belief that the current name no longer supports the objectives of the school.”
School board member Jonathan Sessions, who is the board liaison for Lee Elementary and attended Thursday night’s meeting, said that there are board policies in place that would leave the decision up to the Board of Education.
He said the policy lays out that “anytime a name doesn’t match the program that’s in the building, anytime there’s a program change within the building or anytime there’s renovations or additions” a name change for the building can be considered.
According to CPS spokesperson Michelle Baumstark, the program or “objectives of the school” have historically referred to the building changing over from a high school to an elementary school, or some other grade levels, and that is a definition the school board will have to consider moving forward.
Sessions said Friday he personally feels like it’s time for a name change.
“It’s time Columbia Public Schools has an honest look at the history the name of this building and think about why it was named,” he said. “There were darker motives, probably, or alternative intent.”
He said the conversation will be an uncomfortable one, but it’s one the community needs to have.
The Board of Education as whole will consider this name-changing process and how to proceed at its meeting on Sept. 11.
