High School Rebrands Mascot Over Confederacy Concerns
ANAHEIM (CBSLA) – Savanna High School's nickname will continue to be Rebels, but the school board has decided to remove any perception of ties between the Anaheim school's mascot, Johnny Rebel, and the Confederacy.
After hearing from about two dozen students and alumni during a special board meeting held Monday on campus, district trustees opted to follow the wishes of the student body and re-brand the mascot to eliminate references to a Civil War-era soldier, The Orange County Register reported.
The issue was posed to the students in October in what the Anaheim Union High School District Board of Trustees considered a "teachable moment" for students and resulted in Monday's special meeting in which the decision was made to rebrand.
The district estimates changes would cost about $51,000 but was not specific about what the rebranding would entail, The Register said.
More than 130 people gathered for the meeting.
A member of the first graduating class, Jeanne Tenno said the slogan "Rebel Pride" was not about anything related to the Confederacy, The Register reported.
"We did not celebrate the South," she told the newspaper. "We celebrated our sports victories and stood together in defeat."
Students discussed the issue in classes and held a campus vote, and 56 percent supported altering the mascot, according to The Register.
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