‘It will be a process’: Beaufort County School Board addresses high school mascot changes
After months of controversy, the Beaufort County School Board voted Tuesday night to change a redesigned logo of Beaufort High School’s eagle on the football field’s press box, but not the logo on the field itself.
That motion, one of two passed on the subject, was approved 7-2 vote with one abstention. Currently, a closeup of an eagle’s eyes is on the football field press box. Following the board’s motion, the words “home of the Beaufort High School eagles” will take its place.
The newer image, alums said, is an affront to the school’s history. No motion was made to switch the depiction of the eagle eyes on the field, which has been a point of contention for months.
Mel Campbell expressed frustration over the slow pace of finding a solution to the controversy.
“If you can do that one change, why can’t you do a number of changes at one time?” Campbell said. “I think we have to be decisive and make decisions that’s going to be direct ... in terms of this issue.”
The second motion, directing district Superintendent Frank Rodriguez to come up with a resolution, passed unanimously. The board also announced that a meeting would be held at 5 p.m. Thursday at the district offices to review its policy regarding changes to school names, mascots and colors.
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The decision came after months of back and forth between alumni and the board over the colors and mascot. The green-and-white colors and flying eagle mascot were brought when Beaufort High School, Robert Smalls High School and St. Helena High were merged into one school as part of desegregation efforts.
Each school bringing something to the new consolidated school served as a source of pride for many over 50 years until recent changes were made.
D. Jeanelle Drake, a 1971 graduate, said earlier that alums were shocked to find accent colors, like gray and black, had been added to sports and band uniforms, and the flying eagle replaced with a “cartoon character.” Alums submitted a petition with 1,100 signatures to change it back.
“We don’t need to play the blame game, let’s fix it,” said board member Richard Geier.
Will Smith, another board member, argued that it was necessary to find out how the change happened so that the board does not “end up back here again”.
The board previously directed Rodriguez to come up with a memorialization plan. This might include putting the history on the school website and incorporating it into freshman orientation, David Striebinger previously told the Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette. Tuesday’s motion was a solution that would take place over time.
“I’m bringing it forward to move forward,” school board member Tricia Fidrych said. “It will be a process. This is a beginning.”
Smith, a Beaufort High alum himself, said in an interview the logo change shouldn’t have happened and anything short of restoring the original eagle was akin to erasing history.
“History is history, no matter how it looks,” Smith said. “You can’t erase it, but you can learn from it.”
This story was originally published July 13, 2022 at 4:51 PM.
