Dallas ISD's efforts to change the names of campuses that honor the Confederacy just got a lot more tangible — and possibly a lot more interesting.

During Thursday's board briefing, DISD trustees unanimously expressed interest in supporting name changes at four schools named after Confederate generals — Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, Albert Sidney Johnston and William L. Cabell elementary schools.

The future might hold even more alterations. District administration compiled a list of at least 21 other school names that administrators say are connected to the Confederacy, slave owners and segregationists. Some trustees showed interest in approving changes to those schools eventually.

When and how all the changes would be achieved were the main points of discussion. But the board was united in calling for decisive change.

"I came through a segregated school system, so it's clearly personal to me," trustee Joyce Foreman said.

In the next few weeks, board president Dan Micciche will bring forward something — perhaps a resolution, or asking trustees to waive board policy — in order to change the names of the four schools named after Confederate generals by the end of the calendar year.

Existing policy for name changes has a lengthy timeline, with proposals due in April and the board eventually voting in June.

"The mechanics of how we do this ... is just something relatively easy to work out," Micciche said.

Superintendent Michael Hinojosa warned trustees that if community input is going to be a part in this process, there has to be "a charge" given to those groups on how things would work. Hinojosa referenced his time as the superintendent in Hays Consolidated ISD, when he carried out recommendations made prior to his arrival to remove the Confederate flag as a high school spirit symbol.

"I know all the issues that are related on this matter, and there are a lot of emotions," he said.

Probably, the board will follow an established framework for name changes, where principals collaborate with their site-based decision-making groups and parent-teacher associations to offer proposals to the board. Trustees will then vote on the changes.

"It should be inclusive of the parents, the students and the community in which the schools reside in," Nutall said.

Trustee Dustin Marshall said that one of his schools, Lee Elementary, has already gone through the SBDM process and is waiting for guidance on how to proceed. Another campus, Stonewall Jackson Elementary, is far from reaching any consensus, he said.

A brewing controversy, however, is where to stop. There are other schools honoring others — like John H. Reagan — who were involved in the Confederacy, but not as generals.

The district's chief of school leadership, Stephanie Elizalde, compiled a list of at least 21 school names honoring those who were somehow connected to the Confederacy, or were slave owners or segregationists. That list was not made public Thursday.

Trustee Lew Blackburn said that considering the four names alone would be insincere.

"My colleagues, we may want to keep it a short list, but if we don't touch the slave owners we are in some ways being hypocritical," he said.

Foreman said that several of her constituents asked if Atwell Law Academy, a middle school, could be included. William H. Atwell was a federal judge who openly defied higher-court rulings to obstruct desegregation orders in the 1950s.

"I told them no," she said. "It needs to come through the process."

The issue, especially as it relates to the Confederate-named schools, clearly has interest.

The meeting room for the regularly scheduled briefing, held in DISD's new headquarters, was unusually crowded with onlookers and TV cameras.

Five of the six public speakers spoke in favor of changing the names at the four schools, including Dallas City Council member Philip Kingston.

"Pride of heritage should not be a reason for keeping a divisive name on an institution," said Stonewall Jackson parent Lauren Laughlin said. "Pride of heritage should not trump someone else's legitimate hurt."

Another Dallas resident, Deborah Stewart, urged the board to move swiftly. Her ancestors were slaves, and the honors given to Confederate icons sent an unwelcome message, she said.

"Changing the names of these schools won't change our history," Stewart said.

Kingston asked trustees to expanded their scope beyond just Confederate names, looking at the context of why schools were named as they were, and what those names mean now.

Kingston pointed at W.T. White High School, named in 1964 after the then-superintendent "because of his successful delay of desegregation."