A fight over restoring Confederate names on schools heads to trial

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December 9, 2025

By Karina Elwood, Washington Post

A Virginia school board’s decision to reinstate Confederate names on two schools is headed to trial, sparking debate over First Amendment rights and equal access to education.

A lawsuit over a Virginia school board’s decision to restore the names of Confederate leaders to two schools is headed to trial this week, a case that’s set to determine whether the controversial names discriminate against Black students.

Five students and the Virginia NAACP sued the Shenandoah County School Board last year shortly after the board voted to reverse an earlier decision from 2020 to rename two schools. The vote last year reinstated the names Stonewall Jackson High School and Ashby Lee Elementary School — the latter named for Gen. Robert E. Lee and cavalry commander Turner Ashby Jr. — in a first-of-its-kind move that drew widespread attention and criticism.

The students’lawsuit alleged that the Confederate names deny Black students equal access to educational opportunities and infringe on their freedom of expression by forcing students to represent a message of racism when they have to represent the name Stonewall, such as whenwearing it on a sports jersey.

In September, U.S.DistrictJudge Michael F. Urbanski ruled that the high school name violated the students’ First Amendment rights by making them “walking billboards” for Jackson. Ina 71-page opinion, Urbanski wrotethe school board could not compel students to carry a message they do not agree with — establishing that Jackson’s name was one that represented “racial exclusion.”

The remaining claims in the case, like whether the names violate a students’ right to a fair and equal education, will be put to the question in a bench trial set to begin Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia.

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