Texas District’s Call for New School Name Goes Terribly Wrong

A Texas school district’s request for the public to help rename an elementary school apparently went awry when it received several suggestions to honor figures like Adolf Hitler and Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza.

The Austin Independent School District (AISD) last month asked “community members” to fill out online nomination forms in an attempt to solicit new names for its Robert E. Lee Elementary building. Hundreds of parents had said they take offense to the school’s namesake after a Confederate Army general, Fox 7 reported.

But the form attracted a slew of anonymous recommendations, including Donald J. Trump Elementary, which was the most-suggested name with 45 nominations. There were also eight requests to rename the building Adolf Hitler School for Friendship and Tolerance, and one person suggested it be called Adam Lanza’s School of Fun. Lanza was behind the 2012 shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School that left 20 children and 6 teachers dead.

Thirty-four people submitted nominations for the school to keep its name, while 30 suggested naming it after legendary author Harper Lee, who died in February.

“The process was basically just a web form. The community members could submit basically whatever name they wanted,” Jacob Barrett, spokesman for the AISD, told TIME on Monday. “They could supply their contact information if they wanted to, but they weren’t required to. A lot of that was anonymous.”

The nomination process began March 29 and ended April 15. An advisory council will select three names to propose to the AISD school board, Barrett said. The popularity of the nomination will not be a factor in their decision, he added.

Here are the top 10 nominations:

1. Donald J. Trump Elementary: 45 nominations
2. Robert E. Lee Elementary: 34 nominations
3. Russell Lee Elementary: 32 nominations
4. Harper Lee Elementary: 30 nominations
5. Elisabet Ney Elementary: 15 nominations
6. Lee Elementary: 13 nominations
7. Adolf Hitler School for Friendship and Tolerance: 8 nominations
8. Waller Creek Elementary: 8 nominations
9. Dr. Frances J. Nesmith Elementary School: 7 nominations
10. Guy Bizzell Elementary: 6 nominations

Other suggestions include Boaty McBoatface Elementary School, Schoolie McSchoolface and John Cena Elementary School.

Later on Monday, the district announced eight finalists in the competition, including Harper Lee, Barbara Smith Conrad and Elisabet Ney. The list ignored the more offensive suggestions from the Internet’s list of nominees.