ARLINGTON, VA -- Students suing the Arlington School Board over its vote to rename Washington-Lee High School may have a strong piece evidence to back their case: a recording of one of the school board members may force a do-over.
After Arlington School Board voted to begin the process to change the name of Washington-Lee High School, some students were angry.
They wanted to discuss it with board members. They went to the office of one board member during what their attorney calls open office hours and they recorded the conversation. That recording is now part of the law suit.
"What they've done, from the lawyers perspective is violated the law," said Washington-Lee alum Dean Fleming.
A group of Washington-Lee alums are backing the lawsuit filed by three students including senior Will Johnson.
"I'm not advocating either side right now. It's 100 percent the lawsuit to keep the board doing what they said they were going to do and following policy," said Johnson.
Washington-Lee High School opened in 1925 and was named after the first president and Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
The Arlington School Board wants to remove the name Lee because they say it does not adhere to the school system's values or new naming policy.
On June 7, the board voted unanimously voted in new naming policies, and then unanimously voted to change the name of Washington-Lee High School.
That vote is now scrutiny. The lawsuit accuses the board of "failing to follow required policies, procedures and rules and regulations" by not getting community input and now following the procedures the board had laid out months leading up to the vote.
Students recorded their conversation with School Board Vice Chair Tannia Talento and she confirmed to WUSA9 that it is her voice on the recording.
The following is part of what she said in that 30 minute recording:
"The school board hasn't done a formal poll, the school board hasn't reached out to the greater community and asked...We do not do engagement to the community about specifically changing Washington-Lee. There was never any intentional engagement to the community about specifically changing Washington-Lee."
About those statements, Will Johnson said, "It's kind of contrary to what they've been saying the whole time. They've been saying how they want a big, open, two-way involved community process that allows the public to have their opinions heard."
Despite what she said in the recording, Talento told WUSA9's Peggy Fox that the board is not shutting out the community. Because of the litigation, she would not do an interview, but said she believes the board followed the law. Talento said those excerpts were taken out of context.
The group of alums said the school's name and mascot, the Washington-Lee Generals has nothing to do with glorifying the confederacy.
"Named in 1925, it was a conscious gesture or reconciliation and inclusion of Virginia and the South back into national affairs and away from sectarianism at a critical time when the South was still wallowing in it," said Ed Hummer, a 1963 Washington-Lee graduate and star basketball player.
Hummer attended Arlington's Stratford Junior High when it became the first school in Virginia to desegregate in 1959.
Washington-Lee was the second, and is believed to be the first Virginia high school to desegregate in the Commonwealth during the era of Massive Resistance.
"In September of '59, the first black student entered Washington-Lee as a rising senior and in June of 1960 became the first African American in the history of the Commonwealth of Virginia to receive a diploma form a desegregated school. It's just an astonishing history. And it all gets lost if they change the name," said Hummer.
The board did not decide what the new name should be, just that it should be changed.
The students suing want the board's decision reversed so that the community can be involved from the start.
