School named for Cherokee Confederate general may get name change

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - School officials in Oklahoma City and Tulsa will reconsider whether their schools should bear the names of confederate generals after a white nationalist rally decrying the planned removal of a Robert E. Lee statue turned deadly in Charlottesville, Virginia.

An online petition in Tulsa urges the district to rethink a 99-year-old decision to name a school after Lee. Four elementary schools in Oklahoma City also bear the names of Lee and other Confederate generals, including Stand Watie, a Cherokee.

The Tulsa school district released a statement Monday saying officials plan to review the names of all schools in the district to assure they reflect community values.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma City school officials say changing school names can cost as much as $75,000 per school.

Three people died Saturday in Charlottesville as counter-protesters clashed with white nationalists.