Federal Judge Orders Shenandoah County to Keep Confederate School Names Removed

U.S. District Judge Michael Urbanski issued a 141-page opinion ordering Shenandoah County to keep the names Mountain View High School and Honey Run Elementary, rejecting the 2024 restoration of Stonewall Jackson High School and Ashby-Lee Elementary. The lawsuit, filed by four students and the Virginia NAACP, claimed the reversal infringed on Black students’ rights under the 14th Amendment and the Equal Educational Opportunities Act.

Urbanski linked the Confederate names to Virginia’s historic Massive Resistance to school integration, noting that Black students faced severe barriers before the 1960s. He stressed that actively reinstating such symbols is more harmful than merely failing to remove them. The county school board, which approved the name change by a 5-1 vote, declined to explain its motives and plans to appeal, possibly to the U.S. Supreme Court. Attorney Jim Guynn warned the ruling could set a precedent for challenges to Confederate-named schools nationwide.