Lewis High School

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

Becoming Lewis High School
John R. Lewis High School was established in 2020. On our school library website, you can learn about the history of our school’s name change and about the incredible life and impact of our namesake John R. Lewis. You can also explore the ways in which our students and community are celebrating our school’s new name and are inspired by John Lewis.

What's In A Name?
Watch this short biography of John R. Lewis that was created for Fairfax County Public Schools’ cable television channel Red Apple 21:

John R. Lewis High School opened in September 2020. The school was named in honor of a prominent civil rights leader, statesman, and author. John Robert Lewis was born in 1940, in Pike County, Alabama, to Eddie Lewis and Willie Mae Carter. Growing up during the era of racial segregation, John Lewis became active in the civil rights movement in 1960, while attending college at American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee. Lewis participated in that year’s famous sit-in movement, which led to the desegregation of lunch counters in Nashville. The following year, Lewis became one of the original Freedom Riders, who were organized to challenge segregation at interstate bus terminals across the American south.
In 1963, John Lewis became the National Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC – a student-run organization that played a pivotal role in the civil rights movement. As chairman, Lewis helped organize Martin Luther King, Jr.’s epic March on Washington, and was one of the event’s keynote speakers. Lewis: “We do not want our freedom gradually. We want to be free now! We are tired. We are tired of being beaten by policemen. We are tired of seeing our people locked up in jail over and over again – and then you holler: Be patient. How long can we be patient? We want our freedom and we want it now!” Seeking to unlock political power for African-Americans, the SNCC, under Lewis’ leadership, conducted a voter registration campaign in the south. On March 7, 1965, a date that became known as “Bloody Sunday,” John Lewis and a group of some 600 activists set out from Selma, Alabama, on a voting rights protest march to the state capital. After crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge over the Alabama River, the marchers found their way blocked by Alabama state troopers, who ordered the protestors to turn around. When Lewis and the other marchers peacefully held their ground, the officers began shoving the protestors, knocking many to the ground, and beating them with nightsticks. Among the injured was John Lewis, who suffered a fractured skull. The events of Bloody Sunday were a catalyst for subsequent marches and demonstrations which led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act in August 1965. During the years of his work to secure freedom and basic human rights for African-Americans, John Lewis endured more than 40 arrests and multiple physical attacks and injuries. These experiences led him to adopt the motto: “Never be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.” After nearly two decades of seeking change through activism, John Lewis continued his work through a career in politics. He served on the Atlanta City Council in the early 1980s, and, in 1986, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, becoming the second African-American since Reconstruction to represent the state of Georgia in Congress.
Re-elected 16 times, John Lewis served as the representative of Georgia’s Fifth Congressional District until his death in July 2020. During his lifetime, Lewis received numerous honors for his work, including the Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize in 1975, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation’s Profile in Courage Award in 2001, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011. John R. Lewis by his lifetime of service, strength, conviction, and dedication to improving the lives of others, is memorialized as an enduring symbol through his namesake high school.

About the Name Change
Robert E. Lee High School was officially renamed to John R. Lewis High School on July 2020.

In the 1950s, Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) was a growing school district as more people moved to the Washington suburbs. Student enrollment increased by thousands of students every year. In 1954, FCPS had 42 elementary schools and 6 high schools. From 1954 to 1965, FCPS would open more than 80 schools. Schools were named primarily for geographic areas and locations in the community.

1954:
In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v Board of Education that separate but equal – or segregated schools - was unconstitutional. The court did not set a deadline for when schools needed to be desegregated. At this time, Fairfax County Public Schools was a segregated school district and had been for more than 80 years.

1956:
In 1956, U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd, Sr. of Virginia declared massive resistance legislation in order to unite politicians and leaders of Virginia in a campaign of new state laws and policies to prevent public school desegregation. Known as the Stanley Plan, the laws gave the governor power to close any school facing a federal desegregation order.

1957:
In 1957, a contract was awarded to build a new high school on Franconia Road in Springfield. It was referred to as “the Franconia High School” during construction. As the time approached for the new school to open, the community began voicing their preferences on the name of the school. Some wanted Franconia High School and others thought the name should incorporate Springfield.

1958:
Fairfax County School Board minutes from April 15, 1958 said the Superintendent distributed a memo to the Board recommending the school be named Lee High School “in honor of a great family name prominently connected with Fairfax County and Virginia.” The Board voted to approve the name. Lee High School opened in September 1958.

At the same time in 1958, Virginia Governor Lindsay Almond divests superintendents of Virginia schools their authority to desegregate their schools. He ordered several schools in the state to close.

1959:
In January 1959 both the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Court overturned the governor’s decision to close the schools. A month later, a group of black students in Norfolk and Arlington County enrolled in white schools. A year later, Fairfax County Public Schools began integration with the establishment of a pupil placement board. Soon afterward, 108 black students transferred into previously all-white schools.

1963:
School Board minutes from July 16, 1963 indicated the Board received a request from the Lee High School SPTA to officially change the name of the school to Robert E. Lee High School. One board member made the motion, it was seconded, and the motion carried. School Board minutes do not reflect why the SPTA suggested the name change or why the School Board supported the name change.

2019:
February School Board votes to reconsider schools named after Confederate figures and revisits renaming policy. On September 16, Renaming Policy updated and shared, regulation 8170

2020:

February 6 School Board Forum Topic
February 20 School Board Meeting - New Business - propose changing name of Lee High School
February 21 One month public comment begins
March 11 Community Meeting at Lee High School at 7:30 p.m.
March 18 School Board Public Hearing at 6 p.m. at Jackson MS - CANCELED due to COVID-19
March 21 Public comment ends
June 22 School Board Public Hearing 4 p.m. (virtual)
June 23 School Board Meeting at 5:30 p.m. - Action to change the name of the school (If approved, process continues below. If not approved, the process ends.)
June 23 School Board - New Business - Superintendent Recommendation on Name(s)
June 23 One month public comment begins
July 15 Community Meeting - Time 4 p.m.
July 22 School Board Public Hearing at 4 p.m. (virtual)
July 23 Public comment ends
July 23 School Board Meeting at 3:30 p.m. - Action on new name of the school (virtual)
Board voted to rename school John R. Lewis High School.


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Here follows an excerpt from the Fall 2012 edition of the "Franconia Legacies" newsletter published by the Franconia Museum:

Andy Higham & the Early Days of Robert E. Lee High School Football:
Written by Jim Cox

I first met Andy Higham in the fall of 1970, at the time I was helping Fred Landon coach the Franconia Youth Association (FYA) 115lb Tigers. Fred and I attended an FYA Coaches meeting at the home of Bill Higham’s (Andy’s Brother). I was introduced to the coaches and hung around after the meeting to talk football. I remember listening to Andy talk about his team and feeling that he was a coach that really cared about his players. Andy quit coaching football after that year, and I did not see him again until over 30 years later when he became a member of the Franconia Museum Board. Andy was a key player in getting the museum off the ground, playing an important role in establishing and organizing the museum’s space in the Lee District Governmental Center.

During my research of the local newspapers for several displays and museum publications I kept finding information about Andy’s accomplishments as a football player at the newly opened Lee High School from 1958 to 1960. Andy attended Mount Vernon as a freshman and played football for the Majors, mainly as a defensive player. During 1957 Mount Vernon played Annandale which featured Bill Higham as one of its running backs. Andy had to tackle Bill several times in the game won by Annandale 21-0. Andy said that Bill was “one of the hardest men to stop that I’ve ever seen.” Mount Vernon also featured Arnold and Butch Cash in their backfield. The Cash brothers were “Beulah Road Boys,” according to Jane Higham, but evidently decided not to transfer to Lee. Andy transferred when Lee opened in the fall of 1958, and played varsity football for the Lancers over the next three seasons. The Alexandria Gazette for September 6, 1958, gives a rundown on the first Lee Football team which played a modified varsity schedule. This included the Hammond Junior Varsity and several smaller high schools. The team used a “cramped custodian’s office” as their locker room, and practiced in a pasture across Franconia Road, (sounds like it was the current location of Springfield Mall). They did not have a home field until the next season, and Andy was listed as one of two 155lb quarter-backs.

The Lancers opened with Groveton and lost by a respectable 31-12 score, The Gazette states that in the fourth quarter “Quarterback Andy Higham raced 20 yards on a split-T option play to complete a 53 yard drive.” So Andy scored the first ever Lancer touchdown (TD). This was one of the more respectable games from the 1958 Season. Lee would lose by a 72-0 score to George Mason, 49-0 against Fairfax, and only win one game against the Hammond JV team. Jane (Devine) Higham was a cheerleader for Lee during this season and she said she spent the whole George Mason game yelling “block that point” followed by another Mason kickoff after they scored touchdown after touchdown. The Lee coach left right after the season ended.

The Lancers first official varsity season was in 1959. Jack Baumgartner was the new head coach, and the team now had a home field, even if it did not have any grass. The Gazette lists Andy as competing for the Quarterback position but by the opening game he was the starting Fullback. Andy was now a 180lb player and established himself as a power runner for the team. The Gazette ran an article featuring both Higham brothers who played at rival schools during Andy’s Freshman year. This was due to overcrowding in Fairfax County schools. Franconia students went to Annandale High School in 1954 (Bill’s Freshman year), but by 1957 students from the Franconia area were sent to Mount Vernon High School. Coach Baumgartner cited Andy as having “practiced running all summer to build speed, and now he’s one of our faster backs.” Andy also ran track in the spring of 1959 to improve his speed.

Osborn was the first opponent and Lee won their first victory ever over a varsity team by a 13-7 score. The Gazette described Andy as the younger brother of Annandale standout Bill Higham, and said he was the “leading light for the Fairfax County club in its 1959 season opener.” Lee recovered a fumble at the 30 yard line early in the first half, and Andy carried the ball five straight times and went over the goal line from one yard out for the first TD of the season. In the third quarter Andy capped a nine play 40 yard drive with the winning TD on a one yard run.

Lee lost its second game to Groveton by a score of 25-6. Andy scored the only Lee TD on a 19 yard pass from Bob D’Ambrosio. This was the first Lee home game and the field was very dusty despite being wet down by the Franconia Volunteer Fire Department prior to the game. In the third game Lee beat Handley of Winchester 6-0 on a punt return TD by Freshman Jimmy Barrett. The fire department wet the field down again to keep down the dust. In the fourth game of the season Lee won again over Herndon by a 13-7 score. Andy scored an extra point on a pass from Harry Leland and caught a 50 yard pass to set up the second touchdown. Lee also won their fifth game of the season over Stuart, to run their record to 4-1. Andy did not make the papers in the game which was mainly a defensive struggle.

McLean stopped Lee’s winning streak at three games, beating the Lancers 18-7 in their sixth game of the season. Andy scored the TD for Lee tying the score at six. Andy later carried the ball down to the four yard line and Lee appeared ready to score and take a 13-12 lead, but McLean intercepted a lateral and returned it 93 yards to put the game out of reach. Lee played Falls Church to a 13-13 tie in their seventh game. Andy had a big game scoring the first Lancer touchdown on a 12 yard pass. The Springfield Independent wrote that just before halftime Andy “crunched into the end zone, accompanied by four grasping Jaguar players.”

In the eighth game Lee was crushed by Hammond 26-0, Andy was described by the Independent as having 46 yards on 11 carries against the tough Admirals. Lee also lost the ninth game of the season to the Fairfax Rebels. Andy scored a touchdown to tie the score at one point during the first half, but Fairfax scored a late TD to win 12-7. During this period of Northern Virginia High School football Hammond and Fairfax were perennial contenders along with Ed Henry’s Annandale team. In the final game of the season Lee beat Mt. Vernon and secured a winning season. Andy had a 21 yard run on a Lee drive that stalled early in the game. Andy also carried the ball on Lee’s only scoring drive of the game.

The Independent called Lee’s first varsity season a “minor miracle” for taking a losing team and making it into a winner. Coach Baumgartner cited Andy Higham for leading the team in scoring, and Andy received the Springfield Civitan award as the “Best Back of the Year.” In the Gazette’s list of leading scorers for the season he finished eleventh. He was also named to the Gazette’s Honorable Mention ALL-Northern District team as a running back, and to the Washington Post’s Northern Virginia Group 1 Second Team.

Andy’s Senior season in 1960 was pretty dismal, the team started the season poorly and finished with a losing record. Andy played several outstanding games but most of the season was a struggle. He did score a touchdown in a loss to Stuart and two more in a victory over Falls Church. Andy also had two touchdowns against Fairfax in a hard fought loss to the eventual Fairfax County and Northern District champion. The second touchdown was a 51 yarder. Andy did get some recognition at the end of the season by being named to the Gazette’s Second Team ALL-Northern District as a running back, comparable to being named to the All Regional Team today. Andy also received honorable mention as a member of the Gazette’s All Fairfax County Team. In addition, he also received another “Best Back” trophy from Lee High School.

I was able to get most of the information for this story from old newspapers and a series of scrapbooks that Andy’s Mom kept for him. They included all his press clippings and just about every game program from his four seasons of football. Quite a historical collection by themselves and Andy truly loved history, particularly if it involved Franconia or the Civil War. Andy never bragged about his high school football career, although it is pretty evident that he was an outstanding player. I think his approach to everything he did was always to create success through hard work, and he set an example for everyone to follow. Jane said that Coach Baumgartner attended one of the viewings at the Jefferson Funeral Chapel, so Andy’s old coach also cared about his players. We will all miss him.