After more than two hours in the second of two closed sessions, the Shenandoah County School Board voted unanimously 6-0 Thursday night to appeal a federal court’s order for the district to remove Confederate names from schools in the county. It may cost millions in taxpayer dollars to contest the decision.

Judge: Shenandoah School Board violated students’ civil rights by reinstating Confederate names

On Aug. 6, U.S. District Court Judge Michael F. Urbanski ruled in favor of the Virginia State Conference of the NAACP and families of six students who sued over the school names. Urbanski found the district’s decision to rebrand the schools with the names of Confederate generals violated multiple civil rights laws and ordered the district to remove them immediately.

The board met Thursday for the first time since the verdict was released, hearing from multiple speakers, with some advocating that the board appeal and fight for the names, and others urging them to move on and avoid the potential costs.

Before going into a closed session on Thursday, the board said it wanted to defend what it views as its lawful local authority over school naming and to challenge what it considers legal, procedural, and factual errors in the district court’s ruling. 

“When a federal court’s remedy reaches directly into that local decision-making authority, I believe this board has every right and a responsibility to carefully examine whether that solution is legally justified and whether review by appeals is appropriate,” Board Vice Chair Whitney Pence said at the meeting.

Urbanski wrote that by renaming schools after Gens. Turner Ashby, Robert E. Lee, and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson in 2024, the school board violated the students’ First Amendment rights, the 14th Amendment, the Civil Rights Act and the Equal Educational Opportunities Act.

AD Carter, a former student and one of the plaintiffs in the case, this week reflected on his time at Stonewall Jackson before deciding to join the case two years ago.

“I thought deeply about this case, not only because I’m a Black student in Shenandoah County, who walked under the name Stonewall Jackson every day, but also because I knew it would affect future students attending the renamed Stonewall Jackson High School,” Carter said in an interview.  “I didn’t want anyone else to have to go through what I experienced. I really wanted future students to have hope for a brighter day.”

The schools had been rebranded in 2021 to strip the names of the Confederates, who seceded from the United States during the Civil War and fought to continue enslaving Black people. But in 2024, the school board argued that its decision to restore the names was necessary to “restore the public’s trust.”

One area the board sought to challenge was the alleged legal error in finding the board liable without a finding of racial intent, members said.

Board members also argued that an appeal is the proper legal remedy to protect taxpayers and the county from a potentially costly settlement and to resist what they perceive as undue external pressure on local governance.

Plaintiffs proffered remedy that board rejected 

A few days before the board meeting, the legal team representing the Virginia State Conference of the NAACP and families of six students sent to the board’s defense counsel a proposal to resolve the issue.

“Where we go from here rests entirely with the school board,” the plaintiffs’ legal team wrote. “We are once again trying to provide an off-ramp to bring a prompt resolution to this litigation … while … ensuring that the school board’s illegal and unconstitutional conduct is quickly remedied and … its schools no longer serve as memorials to the Confederacy and are welcoming institutions for all American school children.”

According to the letter sent to the board’s defense, the plaintiffs’ legal team — The Washington Lawyers’ Committee, Covington & Burling LLP, and Holland & Knight LLP — wrote that their clients are offering to fund a private mediator to establish a “community-driven” renaming process and resolve legal fees.

Under the proposed terms, the board would agree to stop using the Confederate names by Monday, choose a mediator both sides accept by Aug. 31, and finish mediation by Sept. 30.

“Should the school board once again elect to continue this litigation by pursuing an appeal, we are respectfully putting you and the school board on notice that we will not agree to any discounting of the amount of costs and fees following such an appeal,” the legal team wrote.

The cost to the school board for this case could be substantial and is expected to rise if the board decides to appeal, including the plaintiffs’ additional costs and fees for opposing the appeal. 

The letter says the board has incurred about $500,000 in actual costs related to the litigation, while total attorneys’ fees have exceeded $15 million. 

The plaintiffs plan to file a petition for approximately $7 to 10 million in legal fees. This request reflects a voluntary reduction of approximately $6 to 8 million from the total fees incurred, intended to ensure the rates and scope of work are consistent with what a court would likely deem reasonable, the legal team said.

They have reminded the board multiple times about its liability for attorneys’ fees, the plaintiffs’ lawyers said, dating back to last September.

If the board chooses to appeal, the attorneys stated the cost will be “significantly higher,” largely because the final award would then include the “enormous additional costs and fees” required for the plaintiffs to oppose the appeal.

In response, board member Lewis Michael Scheibe said Thursday, “We may be a small county and a small school board, but we should not be bullied by strong-arm tactics by an organization that is claiming to want to protect the kids.”

“Appeals are there for a reason. It is part of the legal process,” Scheibe added.