(FRISCO, TX) — Some Texas parents are angry over the name of a new high school set to share its name with Lebanon, saying it doesn’t fit their community, which historically shared the same name.
“The present-tense name of a country that was in the news all the time with reference of war and battleground was always what was on my mind when I would say the name ‘Lebanon,” parent Liffey Skender told the Frisco school board last month, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Skender alleges receiving more than two dozen phone calls and 100 emails from concerned parents who object to the name, “Lebanon High School.” She urged the board to consider “Freedom High School” instead.
“The word ‘Lebanon’ still reminds me of all the sad and turmoil that goes on in the Middle East,” she said.
But the school district says the name will honor the town’s history, which was called Lebanon a half a century before the city of Frisco was established.
“Memories of Lebanon may be found throughout Frisco,” the school district said. There’s a road and a Baptist church that still bear the name, and there even used to be a Lebanon school, although it closed in 1947, according to BBC News.
School district Spokesman Shana Wortham told the Dallas Morning News that the school board may add another word to Lebanon, such as “community,” to avoid confusion.
There are 16 cities in the United States named “Lebanon.”