The school board overseeing Austin's Robert E. Lee Elementary voted last month to rename the school, deeming its namesake — a Confederate general — too polarizing. It then turned to the community to suggest a new name.
But the Austin Independent School District probably didn't expect the top suggestion would be Donald J. Trump Elementary.
That name, with 45 nominations, heads the list of 240 suggestions announced Friday, the Austin American-Statesman reported[1]. Thirty-four nominations urged the board to leave the school's name unchanged.
Rounding out the top five were suggestions to name the school after Texas photographer Russell Lee (32 nominations), author Harper Lee (30 noms) or Elisabet Ney, the 19th century Austin sculptor (15 noms).
Other suggestions, shown on a list[2] obtained by Mashable[3], proved as colorful as Trump:
- Adolf Hitler School for Friendship and Tolerance (8 noms)
- Kanye West Elementary (2 noms)
- John Cena Elementary (1 nom)
- Bee Movie (1 nom)
The British government could have perhaps warned the school board about the dangers of crowd-sourcing names. The top-voted name for its $300 million research ship was "Boaty McBoatface[4]," thanks to an online poll.
Unsurprisingly, the Austin school also received a single nomination for the name "Schooly McSchoolface."
The school board, perhaps wisely, will retain final say of the name, according to local station KXAN[5].
The school, located a few blocks from the University of Texas campus, aims to join several landmarks nationwide that have shed names and symbolism tied to the Confederacy in the wake of last year's Charleston, S.C., shootings by suspected killer Dylann Roof, who appeared in photos with the Confederate flag.[8]
Many want the Robert E. Lee name to remain, as voiced that desire through their nominations to keep the name and also through more creative suggestions, such as Ignorance Is Bliss Elementary, Hypothetical Perfect Person Memorial and Bleeding Heart Liberal Elementary.
Follow Josh Hafner on Twitter: @joshhafner[9]
References
- ^ the Austin American-Statesman reported (www.statesman.com)
- ^ on a list (www.scribd.com)
- ^ by Mashable (mashable.com)
- ^ top-voted name for its $300 million research ship was "Boaty McBoatface (www.usatoday.com)
- ^ according to local station KXAN (kxan.com)
- ^ pic.twitter.com/FSNLzkO46C (t.co)
- ^ April 24, 2016 (twitter.com)
- ^ who appeared in photos with the Confederate flag. (www.usatoday.com)
- ^ @joshhafner (twitter.com)
Source → Trump Elementary, Hitler School among top name ideas for Texas school
