The public has an opportunity to weigh in on whether an elementary school in San Diego should retain the name of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
The San Diego Unified School District has been taking the pulse of staff, students and families at the campus in Paradise Hills after receiving several proposals to make the change.
Many public institutions, particularly in the South, have removed Confederate symbols like flags in the past several months, prompted by a racially inspired shooting in June that killed nine people at a black church in Charleston, South Carolina.
Lee was a U.S. Army officer who resigned when Virginia seceded from the Union in 1861 and who went on to become a Confederate general, defending the side that defended slavery even though his writings about slavery suggested ambivalence.
State legislation calling for the the school and one in Long Beach to have name changes was vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown, who said the districts had processes in place to decide the issue themselves.
The San Diego Unified School District posted the poll to SurveyMonkey.com Sunday and will keep it available through Nov. 20, according to district spokeswoman Ursula Kroemer.
Questions include whether the school should be renamed and, if so, to honor another person with the last name of Lee, simply remove the first name, or call the school something completely different.
Survey takers could also choose from a list of approved names — like Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglass or Fred "Mister" Rogers, or suggest another name entirely.
The San Diego Police Officers Association backs a plan to name the campus for slain Officer Archie Buggs, whose family lives in the neighborhood.
Kroemer said the threshold for either renaming or retaining the name has been identified as two-thirds of participants, although the feedback provided by the school community will be afforded a weight of 2-to-1 in the final tabulation.
The results will be announced at a forum scheduled for Dec. 2.
