Justice High School

Here follows a history of the school as published on the Fairfax County Public Schools website:

Justice High School was established in 2018. We invite you to learn about the history of our school’s name change, the persons for whom our school was named, and take a look back at our rededication ceremony.

Becoming Justice High School
The history of our school's name change.

Following the murder of nine African-American churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina by a white supremacist in June 2015, a group of students approached Fairfax Fairfax County School Board member Sandy Evans with a petition to rename J.E.B. Stuart High School. J.E.B. Stuart was a Virginian who had served as a general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. The petition noted that students deserved a school name that represented their diversity and not Confederate history.

In February 2016, the Fairfax County School Board directed Superintendent Karen Garza to initiate community engagement in the J.E.B. Stuart High School pyramid to determine whether or not there was sufficient support from the community to change the school's name. An initial survey was conducted in the spring of that year, during which some community members voiced the desire to keep the name Stuart. Other respondents felt that public schools should not be named after Confederate soldiers, and that the school should be renamed for a person of color.

On July 28, 2016, the School Board formed an Ad Hoc Committee of students, parents, community members, alumni, and business and community leaders to weigh the pros and cons of a name change; determine the extent of support for a change; explore public-private partnerships to finance any name change; the best method for transitioning; and the best timing for such a change. Seven committee reports were submitted to the School Board in May 2017.

On July 27, 2017, the School Board voted that the name of J.E.B. Stuart High School be changed no later than the start of the 2019 school year. Following the Board’s decision, two community meetings were held in September 2017. At the first meeting, held on September 9, the public at large were invited to suggest new names for the school. One week later, members of the Stuart High School attendance area gathered to vote on their top three choices out of more than 70 names listed for consideration. The results of the vote can be found here. Superintendent Scott Brabrand chose the top five names selected during the community vote and presented them as his recommendations to the School Board on September 28, 2017.

On October 26, 2017, the School Board voted to rename J.E.B. Stuart High School to Justice High School. The name Justice was chosen to honor three individuals for their roles in championing equal rights, inclusivity, and justice for all: Barbara Rose Johns, Justice Thurgood Marshall, and Colonel Louis G. Mendez, Jr. A new mascot, “Wolves,” was chosen by students in January 2018, and the building was rededicated on Friday, September 7, 2018.

Justice High School Rededication
The official rededication ceremony for Justice High School was held Friday, September 7 at 5 p.m. in the auditorium. The school celebrated the high school's new name that honors three outstanding individuals for their roles in championing equal rights, inclusivity, and justice for all: Barbara Rose Johns, Justice Thurgood Marshall, and Col. Louis G. Mendez, Jr.

What's in a Name?
The name Justice was chosen to honor three individuals for their roles in championing equal rights, inclusivity, and justice for all: Barbara Rose Johns, Justice Thurgood Marshall, and Colonel Louis G. Mendez, Jr. Learn about these inspiring individuals in this video produced for Fairfax County Public Schools’ cable television channel Red Apple 21:

Justice High School opened on August 28, 2018. The name Justice was chosen by the Fairfax County School Board to honor those people who fought for the ideal of justice especially during the Civil Rights Movement, specifically three individuals – Barbara Rose Johns, Thurgood Marshall, and Louis G. Mendez, Jr.
Barbara Rose Johns was born in New York City in 1935, and moved to Prince Edward County, Virginia, during World War II. In the early 1950s, during the era of segregated schools, she attended Moton High School in Prince Edward County, the all-black school for the community. Barbara Rose Johns was deeply troubled that her school was not equal to the county’s high school for white students. On April 23, 1951, at the age of 16, she led a student strike to demand better conditions. The protest gained national attention, and lawyers from the NAACP offered to represent Miss Johns and other students in a lawsuit to desegregate Virginia’s public schools. The case became known as Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County. When the case reached the United States Supreme Court, it was combined with four others into the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education. Thurgood Marshall was the lawyer representing the students in the case of Brown v. Board of Education. Citing the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the Unites States Constitution, Marshall argued that segregated schools did not provide equal educational opportunities for black children. Thurgood Marshall won the case, and helped establish the precedent that “separate-but-equal” was not, in fact, equal at all. Born in 1908, the son of a railroad worker and a teacher, Thurgood Marshall attended Lincoln University and studied law at Howard University.
He went on to become the Chief Counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, winning 29 out of 32 cases he argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1967, President Lyndon Johnson appointed Thurgood Marshall to the Supreme Court making Marshall the first African-American Justice to serve on the United States’ highest court. As a side note, Justice Marshall lived in Fairfax County, and was the first black homeowner in the Lake Barcroft community near Justice High School. Another resident of Lake Barcroft was Colonel Louis G. Mendez, Jr. Colonel Mendez grew up during the Great Depression and was of Mexican, Spanish, and Navajo Indian ancestry. He graduated from West Point Military Academy in 1940, and, during World War II, served as the commander of the 3rd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment. This regiment, part of the 82nd Airborne Division, was one of the first groups of Allied soldiers to parachute into Normandy, France, on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Colonel Mendez and his men courageously liberated a number of towns in Normandy. For his bravery and leadership, Colonel Mendez was given the Army’s Distinguished Service Cross. After the war, Colonel Mendez served as a military attaché to Spain. He eventually settled in the Lake Barcroft community, and eight of his children attended J.E.B. Stuart High School. After his time in the military, Colonel Mendez worked for the Virginia Department of Education and was the National Director for the Right to Read Program, which promoted literacy as a fundamental skill all students need and deserve in order to learn. Justice High School stands to remind us of these and the myriad others who have sacrificed to insure our American freedom and equality for all.