Arkansas has a few schools named after people associated with the Confederacy, but there's been little call to change those names, contrary to calls in other parts of the country.
Jim Rollins, superintendent of Springdale schools, said he's had "a minimal number of complaints" about the name of Robert E. Lee Elementary School, which opened in 1951 and is the oldest school in use in Springdale. He wouldn't give a specific number but said the complaints amounted to "less than a handful."
But with the political climate in the nation and Confederate statues being removed in several cities, the issue deserves attention, he said.
"I think it's an important issue and one that we are studying," said Rollins. "But we've got to make sure we don't cause more problems than we cure. ... The whole issue obviously is very emotionally charged."
Randy Hutchinson, president of the Springdale School Board, said he personally hasn't received any complaints about the school name.
"Honestly, I'd never thought about it until all this stuff from Charlottesville and about the statues came up in the last couple of months," he said, referring to violence that arose from a protest over a statue last month in the Virginia city.
Hutchinson said he grew up in Springdale and always knew the school simply as Lee Elementary. He said many people may not know it's named for the Confederate general, but a sign out front proclaims it Robert E. Lee Elementary School.
"At this time, obviously no decisions have been made, but we'll continue to study it," he said. "Right now, business is normal, just taking care of kids."
In other states, schools named for noted Confederates have become an issue, particularly where the majority of students are black. Few black pupils attend Lee Elementary in Springdale.
Justin Swope, the principal at Lee Elementary, said the school had 474 pupils as of Thursday. The demographic breakdown was 52 percent Hispanic, 28 percent Pacific Islanders, 17 percent white, 3 percent black and 1 percent American Indian.
Lee Elementary serves pupils in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade.
Pamela Smith, a spokesman for the Little Rock School District, said no complaints have been voiced about the name of David O. Dodd Elementary School.
Dodd, 17, was hanged by the Union Army for being a spy for the Confederacy.
"I'm not aware of any other schools with names of Civil War heroes," Smith said about the district. "But it is not an issue or a discussion that has been raised by any of the families in our district."
Little Rock had a few other schools that were named for Confederate officers or soldiers, but those schools have all closed.
According to the Little Rock School District's website, lrsd.org, the city had elementary schools named for Confederate Gens. Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson; Albert Pike, a Confederate soldier, lawyer and writer; and James Mitchell, who served in the Confederate army and later was president and editor-in-chief of the Arkansas Democrat.
Lee Elementary operated from 1954-67. Jackson Elementary was open from 1906-71. Mitchell Elementary operated from 1909 to 2005. It's unknown when Pike Elementary was built, but it last operated under that name in 1955, and the school closed in 1982, according to the website.
In Forrest City, there's been no effort to rename the high school and junior high, said Kendall Owens, a spokesman for the school district.
Forrest City is named for Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general who was believed to be the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, although he denied any association with the group when he testified before a congressional committee in 1871, according to history.com.
"No, we have not had any conversations regarding that," Owens said of renaming the schools. "At this point in time, we have not had anyone to my knowledge who has come forward and raised an issue with the school district using the city's name as part of the school's names."
When asked if anyone had suggested changing the name of Forrest City, Mayor Larry Bryant laughed and said "I'm not getting into that one."
Bryant said that would be the extent of his comment.
Lee County in east Arkansas is named for Robert E. Lee, and Lee High School is named for the county.
County Judge Terry Sandefer said he hasn't heard any talk about changing the Lee County name. Since it has been an issue in other parts of the country, he wondered if it would come up in the Arkansas Delta, "but I haven't heard anything, no talk about it," he said.
Sandefer said Lee County was named by a black Arkansas legislator. According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture, legislation to create the county was moved through the General Assembly in 1873 by William Furbush, a black Republican -- at the time -- who represented Phillips County in the state House of Representatives.
Lee County was cobbled together from parts of Phillips, Monroe, St. Francis, and Crittenden counties.
"Phillips County opposed the bill, which would have named the proposed county 'Coolidge County' and then, in a second version, 'Woodford County,'" according to the Arkansas Encyclopedia. "Both versions were defeated. The persistent Furbush finally pushed it through when the county's name was changed to honor the South's 'Great Chieftain,' Robert E. Lee, and [Furbush] was named sheriff of the new Lee County."
There's a statue of Lee in the middle of the town square in Marianna, which is the Lee County seat. Sandefer said he's heard no talk about removing it.
"We'll have to cross that bridge when we get to that, I guess," he said.
Cleburne County in north-central Arkansas was named after Patrick Cleburne, a general in the Confederate States Army.
Rachelle Evans, the Cleburne County clerk, said she's heard no talk of changing the county's name. Neither has her husband Chad Evans, who's a member of the county's Quorum Court.
In Pine Bluff, there's a George Washington Carver/Forrest Park/Greenville Preschool. Principal Marceinia Peoples said the school was once in the Forrest Park neighborhood of Pine Bluff. Peoples said she doesn't know whether that part of the city was named after Nathan Bedford Forrest, but there's been no talk of changing the school's name. The preschool has more than 150 pupils, most of whom are black.
The Fort Smith School Board decided in 2015 to remove the Rebel as the Southside High School mascot and "Dixie" as the fight song because of concern that the Confederate symbols were offensive to some who equated them with racism. A committee eventually chose the Mavericks as the school's new mascot.
SundayMonday on 09/03/2017