New Cleveland High - School colors & mascot

Hey Folks,
I wanted to see if I was out in left field on this one. :banghead:
It's not an earth-shattering topic by any means...but one that's very disappointing to me. Your feedback is appreciated...

We have been assigned to attend the new Cleveland High. Our family is very excited about the new school. I have 3 sons (ages 13, 11, & 4). The 13-year-old will be attending there when the school opens.

This may sound very trivial...but, I'm very disappointed in the choice of school colors & mascot. The mascot will be a "Ram"...and the color will be "Columbia Blue" (very close to a "light blue"). Long story short, the mascot and color scheme is almost identical to Cleveland Middle School's current color & mascot theme. I'm disappointed in the choice as well as how they were chosen in the first place.

I had been closely following the school's website to see if I could get details as to when the colors/mascot would be considered in hopes that citizens would be allowed to provide input on the decision. On the website, the calendar listed for November '09:

S[FONT=verdana,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]chool colors and mascot selected[/FONT].
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Unfortunately, I found out that at the 07/28/09 board meeting that the decision had already been made without any external input whatsoever. Here are some comments from the minutes of that meeting:

The discussion about the color boards and the choice of school colors and mascot were almost indistinguishable. It was a consensus agreement that we honor the history of Cleveland High School by staying with Columbia Blue and White as our colors and the Ram as our mascot. There was discussion about avoiding too much of a resemblance to UNC-CH's mascot and colors.
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I took the opportunity to email Principal Meredith about my concerns and here is an excerpt from her response to me.

Our choice goes back to the history of Cleveland School. As you may or may not know, there was a Cleveland School, K-12, from 1926 - 1969, when the high school closed and consolidated to attend South Johnston. It continued on, at the original site, as a K-8 until the new Cleveland Elementary and Cleveland Middle Schools opened in 1999. The reason that Cleveland Middle School's mascot is the Ram is because of the original school, which has a long, very successful history. The planning committee agreed that keeping the colors and mascot was a way of acknowledging the success of the school, and recognizing all the community people who supported it along the years.
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Here was my response to her email to which she has not responded:

I'm glad you agree with me that the choice of mascot and school color(s) plays an important role...not only in the life of the school, but in the life of its supporting community. However, you and I (and the planning comm.) will have to "agree to disagree" on the choices. I certainly applaud the committee's desire to honor the past. However, just as the Cleveland area has continued to explode and expand with new people, new activities, and new businesses, etc. in recent years, this was the committee's golden opportunity to also begin anew and start our school's new "history".

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Like I said...am I out in left field on this one folks? :nopity:Help me out!

Thanks for you feedback!
JSGarner

 

I don't really care one way or the other, but i know several old Cleveland HS grads who thought it was great to restart the history. When i heard the colors and mascot i also thought it was a good idea. Just my oppinion. We play youth basketball in the old gym, and the old mascot is still painted on the walls. I thought it was a natural and good choice (even though i am not a UNC fan).

 

Sounds too much like Chapel Hill. Time to talk to my youngest about home school.

 

I'm not necessarily as concerned about the color (even though that would not have been my choice, either) as much as I am about the mascot. The Cleveland Middle mascot was chosen to "honor the history". Isn't it time to start a new history with a new mascot? It's time to be original...

 

I was also disappointed with the new name for our new high school, Corinth-Holder HS. In the beginning, the school board wanted us to come up with the name for the new high school not too far from Archer Lodge Middle School. One of their rules is the name cannot be after the person's name. Well, lookie here, isn't Corinth-Holder a person name?

I strongly believe that both Cleveland HS and Corinth-Holder HS are using color and mascot similar to our universities (UNC and ECU).

 

i agree!

 

I was born and raised in the Cleveland Community(Old Cleveland School, NC) and I am very happy with the decision. I attended Cleveland School for K-8 and then went to South Johnston to High School. I was and still am proud to be a Ram and now my children will get to follow in my footsteps. There is a lot to be said for History! With all the changes this area has made over the past 20 years, I'm glad there are still people like me that want to keep some traditions alive. I say GO CLEVELAND RAMS!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Exactly. And I'm a Yankee transplant, but I do see the value in respecting the history of the place I have settled in.

 

isn't that pretty standard, the middle school and high school have the same mascots and colors? It was at the school i went to growing up.

 

Your child(ren) will be at the school what...3? 5? years? And then you are done with it forever? Meanwhile a community gets to honor the tradition and history of itself by giving a nod to the old Cleveland school for more years than you will be in the area.

Way to be very self centered. Sure hope your kids dont name their kids something *you* do not like.

 

JS - welcome to the board. I want to applaud you for presenting such a well thought out opinion, which you opened up for discussion. I hope you stick around and always remember that having the unpopular opinion is not a bad thing and there is no shame in using the ignore button (I learned that way too late in the game :mrgreen. I don't have a dog in this fight and can see where you are coming from and where others would make the argument for community, history etc. so just wanted to welcome you aboard :cheers:

 

flirt :jester:

 

are you sure it's a guy? I mean there was the whole seabee thing with you a while back :lol::cheers:

 

I'm loving the name and colors....wouldn't it have nice if the school could have been on Cleveland Rd.??? As a long time resident of Old Cleveland School, NC --- I am delighted with the history that will be carried on.

 

LOL - Now that you mention it no I'm not, it just sounded like a guy. After all you yourself pointed out how well thought out the post was. :lol::lol:

 

hey watch it girl... how do I get drug into all these types of things anyways... :jester::jester:

 

I'm a guy

 

Sure you are.....

 

Mmmm.... :twisted:

 

If she is a guy then I am gay