Status: Resolved

Resolved: January 1st, 2020

Kennard Classical Junior Academy has been renamed "Classical Junior Academy".

Excerpt from "Confederate Army lieutenant Kennard dropped from name of St. Louis school" - St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Aug 16, 2020

"Kennard Classical Junior Academy, named after a Confederate Army lieutenant, will drop his last name from the school.

The magnet school for gifted children in south St. Louis will be known as Classical Junior Academy for the 2020-2021 school year after approval from the St. Louis Public Schools board of education.

Samuel Kennard worked as an aide to Nathan Bedford Forrest, the general who became an organizer of the Ku Klux Klan. After the Civil War, Kennard became one of St. Louis’ ruling elites who supported causes at the expense of Black and poor white people. He operated a carpet company on Washington Avenue, lived in a 25-room mansion on Portland Place and was the first president of the Veiled Prophet Association. Kennard died in 1916.

Concerned parents launched efforts to change the school’s name more than five years ago. The discussion was held in the context of a school where students are 61% white in a district that is more than 80% Black. A new group of parents is working on racial equity concerns in the district.

The school's new name is temporary. Groups of parents, alumni and community members have supported Black namesakes including the unrelated Clyde C. Kennard, a civil rights pioneer who fought to integrate the University of Southern Mississippi, and Betty Wheeler, founder of top-rated Metro High School."