Staunton High School was originally opened in the early 1900s and renamed Robert E. Lee High School in 1914 during the monthly school board meeting held on April 30, 1914 at the urging of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.[5]
In July 2014 The News Leader received a letter to the editor that suggested renaming Robert E. Lee High School;[7] The majority of the newspaper's editorial board and key employees agreed and suggested possible names.[8] In August 2017, in the wake of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, the editorial board stated that it may be "tougher" to keep the school named after Lee.[9] In October 2018, after months of debate, as well as "focus groups and community listening sessions" conducted by the Virginia Center For Inclusive Communities, the Staunton School Board voted 4–2 in favor of renaming the school.[10] The next month, following a public survey with over 4,000 submissions, it was decided the school would return to its original name, Staunton High School. The change took effect on July 1, 2019.[11]
^"Time for a renamed high school?". The News Leader. 2014-07-29. Retrieved 2017-08-21. – Statement by the majority opinion of the newspaper editorial board as well as three key employees: the publisher and president, the executive editor, and the editor of community conversations; the latter three were, respectively, Roger Watson, David Fritz, and Deona Landes Huff.
^Editorial Board (2017-08-19). "Keeping R.E. Lee school name gets tougher with each racist clash". The News Leader. Retrieved 2017-08-21. – Statement by the majority opinion of the newspaper editorial board as well as three key employees: the president, the executive editor, and the news director; the latter three were, respectively, Roger Watson, David Fritz, and William Ramsey.
^Collins, Francis (1 July 2020). "Congratulations Class of 2020". NIH Director's Blog. National Institutes of Health. Archived from the original on 8 July 2020. Retrieved 8 July 2020. Congratulations to the 200 members of the Staunton (VA) High School Class of 2020. As a proud Staunton High alumnus, class of 1966, it was my honor to offer a video commencement statement for this year's graduates.
^ abReed, John C. (February 15, 2012). "Francis Collins: 3 Scientific Breakthroughs Changing Medicine". MedScape. Archived from the original on July 8, 2020. Retrieved July 8, 2020. My interest in science, which started with the usual chemistry set and asking myself "What can I blow up?" really was sparked as a 10th-grader by a chemistry class taught by a very gifted teacher, Mr. John House. I later discovered that was also the way your interest in science was triggered – by that same teacher in that little public school.
^Wolff, Alexander (June 15, 1981). "He's safe at home". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on July 8, 2020. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
