TOPEKA, Kan. — Leaders of a Kansas school district that is named for an early 20th century Ku Klux Klan leader have created an advisory task force to consider a potential name change.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the task force will provide a report, but not a recommendation, to the board. The issue gained attention after student journalists at Seaman High School used newspaper clippings from the 1920s to confirm last fall that the district’s namesake, Fred Seaman, had been an “exalted cyclops,” or chief officer, in the Topeka KKK.
A few dozen students, teachers and community supporters protested Monday, demanding change, before the board decided to create the task force.
