My entire family is devastated at the potential change of our history. My family, both immediate and extended, from my two great-uncles to my daughter have attended Washington-Lee High School. My daughter who is currently a student at WLHS is just as devastated as the rest of us. She would be a graduate of Washington-Lee High School next year, class of 2020. Both my daughter and I are still holding out hope that the name change debacle will be stopped by the court system.
When we found out about the potential of a name change to our high school we attended the School Board meeting and immediately saw by the behavior of the School Board that the decision had already been made regardless of what anyone else thought or wanted. That meeting ended with my daughter in tears. You see we moved from our townhouse in Chantilly, Va. back to Arlington solely so that my daughter could attend and graduate from the same high school that almost all of her maternal extended family had attended and graduated from. My daughter would be the 5th generation of our family to graduate from Washington-Lee.
Writing this absolutely breaks my heart as this could possibly be taken away from us. Being a single mother, moving from Chantilly to Arlington was no small feat however it meant that much to her and I that myself and my parents made it happen. She sacrificed leaving all of her friends in Chantilly and starting fresh in a new school, where she would know no one to continue the tradition of our family.
I believe, along with many others that this change came together fraudulently, with no community input and no care to what even the students wanted. This is evident by the lawsuit that is being pursued by some of the students of Washington-Lee High School. That should be very telling, that these students are so upset by the acts of the School Board that they are taking legal action against them. If I had the money I would be pursuing my own lawsuit against the School Board. It has been proven over and over again that the majority of Arlington County does not want the name changed, the majority of WLHS students do not want the name changed. The money it will take and the upset it will bring to so many, it is not worth it.
Jennifer Lam
Along with Frank Zier, David Zier, John Lam, Lowell Lam, Marjorie (Sauerwein) Lam, Larry Denny, Pat Denny, Kathy Denny, Karen (Denny) Lam, Kimberly Denny, Lawrence Lam, Richard Lam, Gary Lam, Brian Lam, Stephen Lam, Katherine Lam, and Mikaela Beverly Figueroa Lam