Austin ISD Votes To Rename Lanier High School To Navarro

AUSTIN, TEXAS — The Austin ISD board of directors on Monday night voted to change the name of Sidney Lanier High School to Juan Navarro High School, honoring a former student killed in Afghanistan rather than a figure of the U.S. Confederacy.

The move is part of a broader effort by the district to rename schools named after those who fought for the South during the Civil War, with a key aim of their fight to retain the institution of slavery. Lanier was an American musician, poet and author who served in the Confederate States Army as a private.

Juan Navarro, on the other hand, was a sergeant who died in Kandahar, Afghanistan at the age of 23 while serving his country. A 2007 graduate at the high school, Navarro died after being attacked with an enemy improvised explosive device during his second tour of duty to the war zone. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

According to an obituary, Navarro was the first of 11 brothers and sisters to attend college. Soon after, he became the first in his family to enter the military, joining the Army as wars raged in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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