Robert E. Lee Elementary one of several schools across U.S. to consider name change

Robert E. Lee Elementary in Columbia is one of at least 52 schools across the country named after the Confederate general, according to a study conducted by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The school is also one of 20 public entities in the state that has a Confederate-related name or meaning.

One of those items includes the Confederate Rock, which was located in front of the Boone County Courthouse. It was moved to the Centralia Battlefield historic site in 2015 after a University of Missouri student petitioned for its removal.

While the elementary school is better known as Lee Elementary or Lee Expressive Arts Elementary, some local residents and parents had issues with the school’s official name.

Several schools across the country named after Robert E. Lee or other Confederate leaders have been debating whether to change the name or have already gone through the process of changing the schools’ names.

The Columbia Public School’s board of education will vote Monday night on whether or not to create a committee that would look into changing the name of the school.

According to Lee Elementary School Board members and Columbia Public Schools Board members, the request to change the school’s name has been brought up in the past but no action was taken.

The idea of changing the name again came after violence broke out in Charlottesville, Virginia, during a protest in August. Confederate monuments all across the country received scrutiny after the incident.

A few parents of students at Lee Elementary said the name doesn’t necessarily bother them, but using money to remove the name from the building if the name is changed does.

“It’s not a good time for them to be doing that when they got kids in trailers out here by the school. They should be spending the money to upgrade the school so the kids are in classrooms, not trailers,” one parent said.