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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Austin school board has voted to change a policy that would allow schools named after Confederate figures to proceed with name changes.
The Austin American-Statesman reports (http://atxne.ws/1Xixgm6 ) that the school board voted on Monday to change the policy. The shooting at a church in Charleston, South Carolina last summer, when nine African-Americans were killed, sparked a national debate about Confederate symbols.
Community members of Robert E. Lee Elementary School in the Austin neighborhood of Hyde Park have appealed to district officials to change the school's name.
A statue of Jefferson Davis was removed from its pedestal in August on the August campus of the University of Texas days after a court rejected an appeal from a Confederate heritage group.
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Information from: Austin American-Statesman, http://www.statesman.com
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