Page 3 - Florida Sentinel 11-20-18

Feature
Robert E. Lee School Gets New Name: Tampa Heights Elementary School
BY KENYA WOODARD Sentinel Feature Writer
It’s official: Robert E. Lee Elemen- tary School is now Tampa Heights El- ementary School.
The change comes after school board members discussed the matter for an hour at a special meeting Thursday that ended in a 3-2 vote, with Tamara Shamburger, Cindy Stuart, and Sally Harris voting in favor.
Shamburger – who proposed the name Tampa Heights Elementary – said the school’s new name should ditch the Confederate moniker it was given 75 years ago and instead reflect the diverse community that now sur- rounds it.
“This community has stood through the test of time,” she said after the meeting. “We just need the name to reflect the same.”
Board member Lynn Gray, how- ever, voted against the name saying she wasn’t certain that the voices of the school community – the teachers, parents, and students – had not been heard.
Gray also questioned if the re- naming process had followed proper protocol as the district had not held any public workshops or townhall
TAMARA SHAMBURGER ...Proposed the school’s new name
meetings related to the renaming process.
“Right now, I’m hesitant to move forward,” she said. “We need to make sure the decision we make is one we can live with for a long, long time.”
Harrison Peters, Hillsbor- ough’s schools chief, assured the board that administrators followed district policy regarding the renam- ing process, which began before the school was destroyed by a fire last September.
“If a townhall meeting is what was
SALLY HARRIS ...Standing behind the community
needed, we would have done that,” he said.
Shamburger agreed with Pe- ters, stating that the board “has been very transparent and open with this process.”
Board members agreed to rebuild the school after it reached a full re- placement with its insurance com- pany. Now is the time to select new school colors and a mascot, as well as a new name, Shamburger said.
“We’re never going to be able to touch everybody,” she said. “We re-
LYNN GRAY ...Voted Against the Name
ally have to take care of business right now. There’s simply no need to delay this any further.”
Harris said she was unsure ini- tially if the current board should vote on the school’s new name. But doing so is the right way to stand behind the community, she said.
“This board is the board that saw the tragedy take place,” she said. “This board is the same one that found a solution to that problem. So this board should rename that school.”
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