Three Dallas campuses to lose their Confederate namesakes

Three Dallas campuses will exchange their Confederate namesakes next fall for new names honoring a civil rights activist, a Texas-born sculptor and the Bishop Arts neighborhood.

Trustees voted unanimously Thursday night to rename John Ireland Elementary, Sidney Lanier Expressive Arts Vanguard and John H. Reagan Elementary. All three men have ties to the Confederacy.

The meeting lacked the usual controversy that rebranding schools with Confederate namesakes typically brings. The proposals were on the consent agenda and no trustees or community members commented before the unanimous vote.

The district will rename Ireland Elementary — named after a former Texas governor who volunteered for the Confederate army — after Sylvia Mendez, a civil rights activist who played a major role in a landmark 1946 school desegregation court case in California. Mendez was a pediatric nurse and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011 from former President Barack Obama for her advocacy work.

Reagan Elementary will become the Bishop Arts STEAM Academy. Reagan was a Confederate postmaster general and member of the second state Legislature.

Lanier Expressive Arts Vanguard was named after Sidney Lanier, a poet and Confederate army volunteer. The school will become the Jesús Moroles Expressive Arts Vanguard in honor of Moroles, a National Medal of Arts-winning sculptor. Moroles grew up attending DISD schools, including Lanier Elementary. He has more than 2,000 works of art displayed around the world, according to the National Endowment for the Arts.

In 2018, Dallas ISD removed the names of several high-profile Confederate leaders from its campuses. The district rebranded campuses named after Stonewall Jackson, William L. Cabell, Albert Sidney Johnston and Robert E. Lee, which caused some community pushback. It is not clear why the proposals approved Thursday night were not done in the series of 2018 name changes.

Nearby districts have made similar moves in recent months. Following a summer of Black Lives Matter protests, Garland trustees voted to replace South Garland High School’s colonel mascot. Birdville ISD’s Richland High School halted its use of the Rebel as its school symbol.

Dallas trustees also voted Thursday night to allow non-citizens to serve on district advisory committees. DISD policy previously limited committee membership to U S. citizens, however, it is not clear if any potential member was turned away because of citizenship status.

“Our current policy categorically denies a non-citizen from being appointed to an advisory committee,” Trustee Dan Micciche said. “I think this [change] sends a good message of inclusion.”

The change mirrors a city of Dallas May ballot question that would alter policy in a similar fashion.