The Atlanta school board chairman has appointed a committee to look at renaming a school linked to a Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan leader.
Forrest Hill Academy, an alternative school in southwest Atlanta, references Nathan Bedford Forrest, a general who was active in the KKK.
Board Chairman Jason Esteves recently appointed a committee to examine Forrest Hill’s name, making the school the third to come under such review. Committees are currently considering renaming Henry W. Grady High School and Joseph Emerson Brown Middle School.
“The board of education is engaged in reviewing the names of school buildings to ensure that our schools are named after people who capture the values and reflect the diversity and the ambitions of our students (and) their families,” Esteves said at a board meeting last week.
The Forrest Hill committee will be led by Eshe Collins, the board’s vice-chairwoman. Atlanta City Council member Joyce Sheperd, who represents the district where the school is located, also has been appointed to the committee. Other members include neighborhood, student and parent representatives.
