It took one parent complaining to the Pinellas County School Board to prompt consideration over a mascot change.
The problem? A little green devil.
The St. Pete High mascot since the early 1920s, one parent claimed it was divisive, presumably because it’s a, well, devil.
News spread like wildfire about the potential mascot change and, at a meeting set to discuss the issue, more than 200 people came out in support of the school’s historic and beloved horned mascot. Not a single person — not even the parent who leveled the complaint in the first place — spoke in favor of making a change.
This isn’t the first time the community has shown up to support its public schools. When the federal government threatened funding cuts, the Pinellas County School Board had to open an overflow room to accommodate the busting crowd of concerned parents and even citizens without kids, because they know access to quality education is the backbone of a booming economy.
Likewise when state funding cuts were on the horizon for advanced programs such as AICE, AP, IB and Dual Enrollment, droves of people came out demanding programs be fully funded.
Similarly, when books are challenged the community shows up. For example, they showed up for academic freedom when one parent demanded the removal of Toni Morrison’s classic “The Bluest Eye.” Likewise, the community rallied when one parent wanted to remove a movie about Ruby Bridges, the first Black child to be integrated into what was then, in 1960, an all-white school.
The bottom line is, when a constituency gets fired up, they show up.
But here’s where outreach is needed.
So far, the passion that drove people to descend upon the Pinellas County School District’s administration building to defend school funding and advanced programming for high-achieving students, and to speak for or against book removals, has been largely absent from the latest issue facing public schools in Pinellas County and across the entire state.
A new provision was quietly added into the state’s Schools of Hope program in the most recent Legislative Session paving the way for charter school operators to co-locate in public schools with no requirement that they reimburse school districts for the increased maintenance and occupational costs.
Imagine being told you must allow a neighbor to use an empty bedroom, but you cannot demand compensation for additional electricity, water and other expenses.
That is the unreasonable demand being placed upon our already struggling public schools right now.
The outrage should at least mirror that of threats to a beloved mascot. It should be on par with threats to funding, because while it is not directly removing funding, it is increasing cost burdens without reimbursement — a funding cut by another name.
Meanwhile, we have a state leadership structure all too happy to throw taxpayer dollars at school vouchers, including to wealthy families, despite the fact that those funds are often used at schools that lack the same academic standards and/or transparency required of our public schools. The idiom “robbing Peter to pay Paul” comes to mind, with Peter being our public schools and Paul being less-regulated private schools.
Now Schools of Hope threatens to further burden schools, degrading access to quality education. It will hurt not only our student population, but the very economy that relies on an educated population.
Back at St. Pete High School, alumni from as far back as the early 70s lined up to blast the proposed mascot change. Current students also showed up in defense of their school spirit. One alumnus gave an astute history lesson on the mascot, which has nothing to do with the actual devil.
Imagine if we could stir that amount of passion over attacks on public education, such as abysmal funding levels that fail to even pace inflation, charter school takeovers and private school giveaways.
Engagement over the St. Pete High mascot was inspiring, and those who showed up to ensure their voices were heard should be commended.
The solution is not to focus less on mascot cancellation, rather to replicate the passion.
To every single person outraged over mascot erasure, please remember to share that passion for school funding, teacher pay and student success. Because without those things, you may find yourself with no mascot at all.
And wouldn’t that be a devil of a problem?
Raegan Miller is a parent of Pinellas County Schools students and the director of development for Florida Freedom to Read Project. She is deeply concerned with legislation and policy that impact public education, advocating for informed, student-centered decision-making.