Last week, after years of deliberation on how to, or if the county even should change J.E.B. Stuart’s name, the county officially decided to have their name changed to Justice High School. The other options given were Thurgood C. Marshall High School, Barbara Rose Johns High School, Peace Valley High School, and Louis G. Mendez jr. High School. Justice High School is meant to honor the three people that were nominated as each of them fought for justice and equality.

In June of 2015, a white supremacist walked into a church located in south Carolina and proceeded to kill nine African American followers of that church. These actions caused the seeming need of a name change from both the students of J.E.B. Stuart and parents of Fairfax county.

The name change process won’t officially begin until December this year and isn’t going to take effect until fall of 2019. Although changing the school’s name from that of a Confederate general to a name signifying equality should be considered as a proactive change, many students simply don’t agree with it.

Their complaint is that their voices aren’t being heard by the county. Earlier this school year, when the students voted for what name they wanted the school to be changed to, Justice High School wasn’t an option. Many of the students simply wanted the name to be changed to Stuart High School and take J.E.B. away from the name. Stuart High School won the vote amongst the students, yet the county, after a four hour debate, decided to disregard their votes and chose the name Justice High School, their own idea. This name change will cost the school more than $900,000. This high amount of money will be likely decrease the fundings for the music program and athletics program of the school. For many students, this change isn’t worth the affects, and I’d have to agree. Although I do support the changing of the name, I believe that Stuart would suffice because even if the name changes, the students will never really get used to the sound of Justice High School.