BEIRUT: Board members of a school under construction in a southern U.S. town are under pressure from parents to change its name from Lebanon High School to something more American sounding, local media reported.
“The present-tense [sic] name of a country that was in the news all the time with reference of war and battle ground [sic] was always what was on my mind when I would say the name Lebanon,” Liffey Skender, a mother, was quoted by The Dallas Morning News as telling the school's trustees in December.
“The word Lebanon still reminds me of all the sad [sic] and turmoil that goes on in the Middle East.”
School officials had said that the name was chosen to honor the Lebanese community that had been present and contributed to the development of Frisco, Texas.
"For a high school name, it doesn't fit this community," another parent told a local television reporter, according to the BBC.
"Memories of Lebanon may be found throughout Frisco," the school said in a statement explaining its choice of the name.
The school is meant to be "an acknowledgement to those who once lived and farmed in this community and who have contributed greatly to the Frisco and Frisco [Independent School District] of today."
There used to be another school in the area called Lebanon School which operated until 1947, TDMN said, noting that the city sill has Lebanon Road and Lebanon Baptist Church.
But school officials said earlier this month that they might be forced to change the name to avoid the confusion with Liberty High School, another school in the district which uses the same abreviation (LHS).
According to TDMN, spokeswoman Shana Wortham said the name might change to Lebanon Community High School.
She insisted a name change would not be the result of pressure from parents who opposed the name Lebanon altogether.
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