Confederate name changes back on schedule

Reversing a decision made at a work session two weeks ago, Austin Independent School District Board of Trustees President Kendall Pace said at Monday night’s meeting that the proposed name changes for school facilities with the Confederate military namesakes would be back on February’s agenda. The board will now take up the matter for discussion at its work session on Feb. 12. On Jan. 8, the board had second-guessed the administration’s November 2017 initiation of the item, with the consensus being that more time was needed to think through the process. Since then, Trustee Edmund Gordon, who had not been present at that work session, chastised his colleagues during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day speech for their hesitation. In response, Trustee Ann Teich had asked the board to formally censure Gordon at a Jan. 17 board operations meeting. The board did not act on that request.