Dallas ISD board trustee Dan Micciche. (Photo by Kim Leeson)
Dallas ISD School Board President Dan Micciche thinks his colleagues on the board will support renaming public schools with Confederate names.
“The tragedy in Charlottesville has brought calls for the renaming of Dallas ISD schools that were named for Confederate leaders,” the East Dallas trustee wrote on Facebook. He has placed an item on the Sept. 14 board agenda to discuss the renaming of schools, including the necessary steps and required timeline.
Micciche notes the “longstanding policy” that school names can only be changed with input from the school community, including PTA, Site-Based Management Team and local school leadership. But in his post, he mentions that there might be a quicker way to change the names. “I believe the board will strongly support the renaming of schools that honor Confederate generals under either the current process or an expedited process,” he writes.
Gaston Middle School, in Micciche’s district, is named for William Henry Gaston, a Confederate soldier and recruiter, farmer and banker who was said to be one of Dallas’ first millionaires and donated 80 acres to help create Fair Park. Other East Dallas schools that could be affected are Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson Elementary.
Update: The Dallas Morning News has published a op-ed from East Dallas Dallas ISD Dustin Marshall calling for the removal of Confederate monuments and Confederate school names.
