This is why democracy doesn’t work.
The Austin Independent School District in Texas decided community members deserved some input in renaming Robert E. Lee Elementary School, and community members responded by making a hilarious mockery of it all.
Donald Trump got the most votes as the school’s new namesake with 45 nominations. Robert E. Lee came in second, which certainly seems counterproductive to the whole renaming the school formerly known as Robert E. Lee Elementary part of this.
Further down the list, things got wacky starting with the Adolf Hitler School for Friendship and Tolerance getting eight votes.
And of course, Schoolie McSchoolface and Schooly McSchoolerson got a few nods, continuing a trend of the Internet voting to name a soccer team Footy McFooty Face and a British research boat Boaty McBoatface.
Here are a few more that stood out from the list, in ways both funny and scary:
**Adam Lanza’s School of Fun
**Austin Taliban Elementary
**Bee Movie
**Boaty McBoatface Elementary
**Bruce Lee Elementary
**Drew Brees Elementary
**Dwayne Johnson Elementary School
**Flava Flav Elementary
**Forgetting Your Past, Dooms You to Repeat It Elementary
**Garfunkel
**Generic School Name
**Hypothetical Perfect Person Memorial Elementary School
**James Earl Ray Elementary School
**John Cena Elementary School
**Kanye West Elementary
**Leadership & Excellence in Education (LEE)
**Lil Jon Elementary
**Neil deGrasse Tyson
**Politically Correct Elementary School #1
**The Illuminati
**Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Elementary School
**Willie Nelson Elementary
All that’s missing is the Derek Zoolander Center For Kids Who Can’t Read Good And Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too.
https://twitter.com/_youhadonejob1/status/861682894577815553
Unsurprisingly, the school district ignored the unreasonable recommendations as well as some more reasonable but highly controversial ones, like Trump. Here are the finalists, according to Fox 7 Austin:
Barbara Smith Conrad – Internationally acclaimed African-American opera star who completed her studies at the University of Texas despite discrimination-based setbacks.
Bettie Mann – Beloved former Lee Elementary School teacher of more than 35 years and first African-American educator at Lee Elementary School.
Elisabet Ney – Celebrated sculptor and neighborhood resident who immigrated from Germany and is the subject of a popular local museum.
Harper Lee – Iconic American novelist best known for, “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
Kenneth Ragsdale – Former Austin Independent School District director of music and founder of the band program at Lee Elementary School.
Russell Lee – Neighborhood resident, founding University of Texas Photography professor and critically acclaimed depression-era photographer.
Waller Creek – Notable local geographic feature shared by neighborhoods served by Lee Elementary School.
Wheeler’s Grove – Original name of Eastwoods Park, a longtime Juneteenth celebration site and gathering space for historic freedman’s community.
So in the end, it appears the Adolf Hitler School for Friendship and Tolerance will not exist. Phew.
[KXAN]
