In 2020, a woke schoolboard in Shenandoah County, Virginia, decided to change the names of two of the schools named after Confederate Army legends Gen. Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, Gen. Robert E. Lee, and cavalry officer Turner Ashby. The school's names were changed with some rule-bending and without input from the community.

But now that the old members of the school board are gone, and a new set of conservative members has taken over with the intent of righting some wrongs. 

According to WHSV-TV, the new school board has reversed the decision made by the old school board and has restored the names of two schools, Stonewall Jackson High School and Ashby Lee Elementary School. This decision came after the public held a six-hour meeting and decided to reverse the decision that was made behind the backs of county residents: 

The board members who voted in favor of the restoration of the Confederate names said the 2020 board took shortcuts and made decisions without public opinion.

“This was not an innocent mistake by some inexperienced school board,” District 2 School Board member Gloria Carlineo said. “No, this was a carefully choreographed advance of a school board alluding to ignore the people they represented.”

This time, the public was invited to partake in a debate in front of the board where both sides voiced their opinions with reportedly equal people on both sides of the argument, but the decision was ultimately made to restore the old names to the schools.

Only one board member, Kyle Gutshall, objected, though he seems to be understanding about the reversion. 

“I don’t judge anybody or look down on anybody for the decision they’re making,” he said. “It’s a complex issue.”

While some of those who supported the 2020 name change brought up the idea that this would endanger black students, one school board member noted that this kind of thinking shows an ignorance of history.

“People in the Shenandoah Valley say that only the confederates are the ones who did nasty things, or did nasty things to black people,” said school board chair, Dennis Barlow. “You just stopped reading your history, and you’re not being realistic. War’s hell.”

According to the Associated Press, Shenandoah County is a largely rural, conservative area with a population of 45,000 people. The practice of removing Confederate statues and namesakes became popular in Virginia in 2020 when a ban on doing so was lifted. As such, statues of Lee and Jackson were removed from various areas of the state. 

These two schools will be the first time in the nation's history that Confederate names were restored to a building. 

Lee was the General of the Confederate Army and a legendary Virginian who was originally offered to lead the Union Army against the Confederacy but refused due to this state siding with the South. He then agreed to lead the Confederate Army against the Union with the primary goal of protecting his beloved state. 

Jackson, who served as Lee's right-hand man, was also a legendary Virginian who was shot in the arm and had to have it amputated. He died of pneumonia soon after. 

Neither man fought for the cause of slavery as many would claim. Their cause for turning on the U.S. and going to war against it was more about protecting their state. In fact, the reasons for the Civil War were entirely more complicated than slavery, and while many consider Confederate heroes traitors, many consider these men and some of their causes as part of their state's heritage and take pride in it.