The Jacksonville high school named in 1959 after a former Confederate general and the co-founder of the Ku Klux Klan was renamed Westside High and will have its signs changed on campus, Local 10 reported Thursday.
The Duval County School Board, which will tap into its general fund to pay for the new signs, voted unanimously earlier this year to change Nathan B. Forrest High’s name.
A school advisory council had asked the board to change the name in 2007, but then-board members voted 5-2 against the change. New school board rules prohibit naming schools after people.
Joan Miller Cooper, an alumna who has advocated keeping the old school name, told the school board during the decision process that the name Westside is too closely associated with the Westside Mafia gang.
The school district has estimated that changing signs, uniforms and other items will cost about $220,000, Local 10 reported. Donations fell far short of the goal, bringing in $2,087.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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