Florida school named after KKK leader won’t change name despite petition, longstanding protests

DEBORAH HASTINGS

nydailynews.com It seems a difficult task to get a Florida school board to change the name of Nathan Bedford Forrest High School, the namesake of a Confederate general and first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. A petition on Change.org boasting 75,000 signatures calls on Duval County School District Superintendent Nikolai Vitti to rename the school, at which more than half of the students are African-American. “I'm shocked and outraged that in this day and age, any student would be forced to attend a school named for Nathan Bedford Forrest. I urge you to immediately change the school's name,” Jacksonville resident Omotayo Richmond wrote in the petition. But the school board does not respond to petitions, spokeswoman Marsha Oliver told the Daily News Friday. “We have a school board policy and processes that we follow,” Oliver said. “The petition is not the starting point for that process.” Rather, the board’s advisory council must inititate a name change, she said. to read more click here: nydailynews.com