Kirby-Smith Middle School community members have moved a step closer to potentially choosing a new name for the school.
The Springfield magnet school is one of nine in Duval County that is considering removing the names of enslavers and Confederate leaders.
The School Advisory Council approved four new potential names Monday for the middle school which will appear on a ballot later this spring:
- Springfield Middle School
- Springfield STEAM Academy
- Springfield MS for STEAM and Advanced Studies
- Discovery Middle School
Community members will also have the option to keep the name as it is. Ballots will be cast between March 15th and 29th.
The renaming process has been lengthy and contentious, drawing protesters from states away and raising conversations about whose history is commemorated.
Hailing from St. Augustine, Edmund Kirby-Smith was a Confederate general whose family enslaved Black people. The student body at the school bearing his name is 70% African American.
Contact Sydney Boles at sboles@wjct.org or on Twitter at @sydneyboles.
