Huntsville superintendent backtracks on proposal to rename Lee High School after protest
Published: Thursday, November 03, 2011, 5:50 PM Updated: Thursday, November 03, 2011, 6:12 PM
EnlargeA Lee High School student shows support fro Principal Paul Parvinl during a protest march Thursday morning Nov. 3, 2011. About 250 students took part in the protest march from the current school to the construction site of the new school. (The Huntsville Times/Robin Conn)Lee Student Protest gallery (14 photos)
Students Walk Out of Lee High School: Nov. 3, 2011HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Lee High School students march to the new school site to protest a proposed dropping of the Lee name. Superintendent Casey Wardynski arrives to speak to students. (The Huntsville Times/Keith Clines)Watch videoHUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Dr. Casey Wardynski, Huntsville's new superintendent, backtracked on his proposal to change the name of Lee High School Thursday night following a day of protest by students, alumni and parents.
Lee High School students carried signs boasting "General pride" and beseeching the school board to keep the school's name as board members walked into their meeting. It was the second, albeit smaller, protest of the day as students and alumni expressed anger over Wardynski's proposal.
Wardynski was considering a name change in conjunction with moving both Lee and New Century Technology High School students into the new facility.
Initial reports indicated that hundreds of students might converge on the Annie C. Merts Center. The protest outside fizzled to about a dozen students, though parents and students packed into the board room for the meeting.
In the end, Wardynski heeded the opinions of the students -- and the school board -- and announced that the words "Lee High School" would be added back to the new school's facade, where they had been removed earlier in the day. Audience members in the board room and in the hallways of the Merts Center cheered.
"There's been any number of councilman and officials call to inform me that I've made a gargantuan mistake," Wardynski said, to applause from the crowd that made him smile. "Thank you for acknowledging my mistake."
Wardynski said that while the objectives of the new school is to increase student achievement and give students a bright future, another objective is to be a good neighbor.
"This is a huge opportunity to affect northeast Huntsville in a very positive way," Wardynski said.
He explained that while no decision had been made on whether the school's name would be changed, the Lee name would be placed back on the new facility while a community discussion takes place. Board president Laurie McCaulley said intervention by board members aided Wardynski's decision.
"He listened to his board," McCaulley said.
Wardynski's plan to move the approximately 300 New Century Technology High School students over to Lee next fall was no surprise. The topic was brought up last month when the superintendent presented the board with his capital plan.
53 years as Lee
What sparked the protests was the idea of changing the name of the school, which has remained the same since it first opened in 1958. Wardynski early this afternoon told The Times that no decision had been made on the name change.
By the time students finished their school day, however, the name had been removed from the new building's facade.
Wardynski said early today, standing outside of the new building during a student protest, that having the name on the building "presumes a decision has been made."
"We want to work from a blank piece of paper," Wardynski said.
About 250 students at Lee High marched out of the old school just after 8 a.m. and toward the front of the new building on Meridian Street. Some carried signs, one a huge piece of cardboard crudely painted with "New School - Not - New Name."
Wardynski arrived in a car shortly after the protest started. He and Al Lankford, head of school security, waded into the crowd and listened to the students' concerns.
"When you bring two new schools together you have the question, 'What do you call it? Do you call it Lee High School or New Century Academy or what?' You want input from both schools. We heard from the young adults here today, but we also want to consider the young adults tomorrow, next year and 50 years from now."
Wardynski said early Thursday that no decision has been made about a new name, in fact, the decision "is six months off." Wardynski eventually convinced the Lee students to go back to class and said there would be no repercussions for the protesters.
"The young adults obviously have an opinion on their school and we value that," Wardynski said. "I think the way the young folks express themselves is important to hear."
Others this morning carried signs supporting Lee High School Principal Paul Parvin after hearing rumors Parvin might not be principal of the new high school.
Students were chanting "Parvin, Parvin, Parvin" during the protest. Parvin, who followed behind the protesters, declined to comment.
Wardynski said no decision has been made on a new principal for the new high school and did not directly answer questions on the subject of Parvin's future.
"When you have a new high school you have to put together a new administration," Wardynski said. "He's (Parvin) in the DROP (a retirement program for educators), so he's got to think about what his next steps are, too."
M'Lynn Medley, a senior at Lee, said she pulled friends into the school's auditorium Wednesday after hearing that the school's name might be changed.
"If they take away our name, they take away our history," Medley said. "I don't agree with that at all. That new building was built for us."
"If they take our name away, we have nowhere to come back to," senior Dinsmore Robinson said. "We've got a lot of students who are successful here and won't have a place to come back to."
"The school has been here 65 years," senior Anthony Cruse said. "And they want to change the name now?"
"It's just wrong," senior Tyler Nye said. "They didn't change Huntsville High School's name (when it was renovated) did they?"
Alumni weigh in
The subsequent uproar has also included faculty, alumni and even a former state representative.
Randy Hinshaw, who served District 21 from 1994 to 1998 and again from 2002 to 2010, posted a letter to Wardynski on his Facebook page on Thursday.
The 1978 Lee graduate tells Wardynski that a commitment was made to the community. He said he sponsored and passed a tax increase that allowed the city to commit $10 million to reconstruction of Lee.
"If, at any time, I knew that the new school would not be named Lee, I would have dropped my support of the bill and insure (sic) that it would not pass," Hinshaw wrote.
Wardynski renaming proposal came under scrutiny following a Tuesday night Parent Teacher Association meeting at New Century High School. Parents who attended the PTA meeting at New Century also dispute Wardynski's claim that they broached the subject of the name change.
Melissa Shepherd, who posted on The Times' Facebook page, said Wardynski initiated the discussion. "Wardynski came in and told us that, essentially, New Century would be broken up as a high school, integrated with Lee, and that he had on his own initiative removed the Lee High name," Shepherd said.
Another parent, Debra Willcutt, said that the name change came up early in the meeting. "Dr. Wardynski started the meeting with questions that had been submitted about the move. To answer the first question he stated that New Century would be merged with Lee High school and that it would be renamed," Willcutt said in an email to The Times.
Willcutt said parents and students at New Century are just as upset about losing their school's identity as those at Lee.
"I believe that maintaining both schools at the new Lee High building is still a better solution and can be temporary," Willcutt said.
Times staff writer Chris Welch contributed to this report
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