Tulsa’s Lee School renamed right before new school year

TULSA, Okla. (AP) – A Tulsa school district has renamed a school that was originally named after Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

The Tulsa World reports that Tulsa Public Schools on Monday approved renaming the century-old school Council Oak Elementary School. The name change comes just two days before the start of the new school year.

The school voted in May to rename the former Robert E. Lee Elementary School to just Lee School . But residents questioned why the school would keep the general’s surname, saying the change didn’t do enough to remove its Confederate origins.

“Council Oak” honors the still-standing tree near where the Creek Nation first met in 1836 after being forcibly resettled in Oklahoma.

Hundreds petitioned to change the school’s name following violent white supremacist protests last year in Charlottesville, Virginia.