Changes to mascot, colors at Beaufort High spark alumni outrage. Here’s what happened
Beaufort High School’s colors and eagle emblem — which have been symbols of the school for approximately 50 years — were at the center of community members’ outrage at a Tuesday school board meeting.
Community members, many of who were part of the school’s graduating class in 1971, spoke out during the public comment portion of the meeting to express their displeasure that the eagle printed on the school’s football field is a different version of the school’s iconic eagle symbol.
That eagle, school Principal Charity Summers said in a statement, focuses on the face of the eagle “mostly on the eyes” and was redesigned in 2019.
Though the logo was installed on the field in the summer of 2020, Assistant Principal Herbert Glaze, who graduated from Robert Smalls High School in 1968, believes the alumni saw it while attending a recent reunion event at the school.
Alumni also were upset that band uniforms were now black and green, instead of green and white, Glaze said. When they saw both the new eagle logo and the different colors, they were not seeing representation for the two other schools that historically make up Beaufort High School.
“Had I known that would’ve occurred, I would’ve said something about it because I work here,” he said. “That slipped under the radar.”
From the outside looking in, the alterations may seem trivial, but for the alumni, the change is an “insult” to desegregation efforts and the history of the school.
“I was a part of that movement and a part of those changes and it was tough,” Glaze said.
‘Still Beaufort High’
In the late 60s, three schools in the area became one as part of federal desegregation efforts, Glaze said. Beaufort High had predominantly white students at the time and both Robert Smalls High and St. Helena High were made up of predominantly Black students.
After much “fighting and deliberation,” he said, the three schools came up with a compromise. In the end, Beaufort High contributed its name, Robert Smalls High School gave the colors, green and white, and St. Helena High offered up its mascot, an eagle.
The changes have been around since 2019, when historical posters were installed on the pillars at the school’s front entrance to commemorate the three schools’ legacy.
“What they (the public) don’t understand is the trials and tribulations, the fighting and all that that occurred,” Glaze said. “People were being jailed, hospitalized to get this. To come in and change it is an insult because the school is still Beaufort High.”
For Beaufort County Council member York Glover, who graduated from St. Helena High in 1969, the school, its colors and mascot is a symbol of local history that demonstrates unity. Glover was at the meeting to present a partnership between the Gullah Farmers Cooperative Association and the school district to bring fresh, local produce to schools in the area. At the end of his speech expressing his excitement, he said that he did “endorse” community members’ efforts to save the school’s mascot.
“The beauty of it all (is that) it brought three communities together as one,” Glover said Wednesday. “That should not go unnoticed and it should be respected.”
Many who were at the meeting branded the alterations as “disrespectful” and a “disgrace to the history” of the area.
According to Summers, the logo has appeared in different variations of the eagle over the last two decades. Michelle Knapp, a mother of an 11th-grader at Beaufort High, said she remembers an eagle carrying a softball that was used for team gear when she attended the school from 1998 to 2002. The need to preserve history is crucial, Knapp said, but students today want to use a more “intimidating” version of the eagle.
“We just got out of this pandemic, there are much bigger issues going on,” she said. “If you’re going to make changes to the school, include the kids. If it is about educating them, involve them.”
David Striebinger, chairman for the school board, said in the meeting that the board could not respond to public comment, per school board policy. When contacted Wednesday, Striebinger said that logos cannot be changed without prior board approval, so the board has to “dig into how it got to this point.” The issue is one that will likely be discussed at the next board meeting, he said.
“Those folks were heard,” Striebinger said. “(The) folks last night made a solid argument and it’s hard to argue against that.”
This story was originally published March 2, 2022 at 5:22 PM.
