Tyler ISD Announces The New Names Of 2 East Texas High Schools

The results are in!

Tyler ISD has made a decision on the name changes on both Robert E. Lee and John Tyler High Schools.

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Moving forward, Robert E. Lee High School will now be known as Tyler Legacy High School.

I actually like the name because it can be taken as the rewriting of history and the narrative of East Texas.

While some liked the new name, others were quick to voice their displeasure of the name change on Tyler ISD’s Facebook page.

Tammy Gage Williams said, "I hate it. Generic and uninspiring. Oh well. Let’s go Legs." and alumni Autumn Mings said "This name is dumb."

The new name of John Tyler High School didn’t turn out to be my honorable mention NFL Hall of Famer and East Texas Legend Earl Campbell, but instead they decided to shorten the original name of John Tyler High School to just Tyler High School.

The change brought immediate displeasure from the community as they feel the only change they made was just drop the first name of the school.

Christi Henley-Wright said, "Hilarious.Tyler Texas was named after John Tyler. So you're still naming the school after someone that has ties to the Confederacy." and Lindsay Brooke said "Tyler High School was the original name of John Tyler, until it was later RENAMED. So they went back to try to restore the original name."

Personally, I like the renaming of Robert E. Lee High School to Legacy High School. This gives the students a chance to re-write their own history instead of living in the shadows of a name that was associated with slavery.

Removing statutes or renaming of school names associated with slavery and racism is one thing, but until we dig up the root from the tree of racism then we can see some real change - and trust me that is going to take a lot of digging to uproot that tree.

How do you guys feel about the name changes of Robert E. Lee and John Tyler High School?