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The football field at Jack Yates High School in Houston will now bear the name of graduate and former team member George Floyd who was killed by a Minnesota police officer during his arrest last year.
The Houston Independent School District (HISD) Board of Education voted to approve the name change at a recent meeting on Sept. 9.
"Tonight, HISD Trustees voted unanimously to rename @JackYatesHigh football field in honor of alum and former player," the HISD wrote in a tweet the night of the meeting.
Although there was no opposition from the board to changing the name to honor the memory of Floyd, some Twitter users weren't on board.
"And HISD just gets worse and worse," Eva Lira wrote in a reply to HISD's tweet. "Let's just let the state take over. They will make better choices."
The naming committee felt naming the field after George Floyd would resonate with young men in the district.
"Like many African American men, George Floyd experienced feelings of inadequacy, felt the loss of self-worth, knew well the struggles that come with dreams deferred, hopes dashed and the brokenness of possibilities denied. The same things that many boys and young men of color attending Jack Yates High School today feel," the naming committee said in a statement, the Houston Chronicle reported.
According to the Houston Chronicle, all nine trustees voted for the measure, which came from a naming committee at the school and was based on input from students and the school's greater community.
The field will now officially be known as the George Perry Floyd, Jr. Athletic Community Field, according to the Houston Chronicle. Floyd was a Yates student-athlete in the early '90s.
The Houston Chronicle reported the name change won't cost the district any money. Floyd, 46, was murdered by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on Memorial Day of 2020.