Two homecoming parades a possibility in Rogers
Posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2008
With a flurry of sticky yellow dots, Rogers went from no homecoming parade to the possibility of two homecoming parades. When Rogers opened its second high school last week, the traditional homecoming parade in downtown Rogers seemed to be a casualty.
Last week, at Tuesday's school board meeting, Superintendent Janie Darr explained that the administration at both high schools recommended canceling the Homecoming Parade. At the same meeting, representatives from the Rogers Booster Club and the Rogers Noon Rotary Club were on the agenda to introduce the new event they called Community Pride Week. It would be scheduled each year for the week before the football game between the two city high schools, said Mike Gower of the Noon Rotary. The celebration of community pride might discourage vandalism that can result from a close rivalry, he said. Both schools'student councils, bands and spirit squads would be involved, he said.
It was Mayor Steve Womack who spoke out in favor of the parade: "Some traditions deserve to have standing as we pass through this unprecedented change," he said.
Gower said a parade might be a good kick-off for Community Pride Week.
Senior class sponsor Patti Jennings was also in the audience. She reminded the board that, some years back, the rivalry between classes as they built floats got out of hand. Eventually, float building by all three classes had to be closely supervised at the National Guard Armory to ensure that private property was vandalized. There's no space big enough to build all the floats from two high schools, she said.
There's also a scheduling issue, she said. It's impossible for students to complete a full day of classes at 3: 40 p.m. and be ready to march in a 4 p.m. parade.
Rogers High School administrative assistant Billi Sue Hankins disagreed. The seniors deserve a parade, she said, and she appealed to the board and the administration to make it happen.
After listening to several differing opinions on the matter, school board president Joye Kelley suggested a community meeting to discuss the issue.
Approximately 80 parents, teachers, students and administrators attended the meeting Thursday night. After hearing several people voice support for a parade, Oakdale Middle School Assistant Principal David Smith summed up what his co-workers feel.
"We will support a parade," he said," but we will not support a parade if the War Eagle mascot is hung in effigy or drowned in effigy. "According to the district's feeder-school pattern, Oakdale students move on to become Heritage War Eagles.
Heritage PTO president Jill March was applauded when she said that Heritage parents were dissatisfied with the decision that Heritage High School would be Rogers High School's homecoming rival. Heritage High School has no seniors this year, so their football team is significantly younger than the cross-town rival.
Later, Darr asked Athletics Director Mark Holderbaum, who scheduled the homecoming game, and was told it was the head coach's decision.
"In the future," she said," neither school will play the other for homecoming."
RHS Student Council representative Aaron McLarty said a parade just wouldn't be the same now that there are two high schools. The RHS Student Council is against a parade that would include both schools.
"We're playing against Heritage," he said. "We can't join them for a parade."
But the Heritage Student Council doesn't agree, according to member Gabriela Caceres. She suggested one parade as part of the community event, with each school marching separately to a central meeting point downtown.
"There'd be no killing the War Eagle or dragging the War Eagle. There'd be just peace and love," she said.
Rogers High School Assistant Principal Mark Kruger suggested that each school should decide whether to have a parade, but the decisions will have to made very soon because only four and five weeks before the Heritage homecoming and then the Rogers homecoming.
Everyone at the meeting was given a chance to vote by placing a sticky dot under one of three options.
Twenty-one people voted for no parade, 18 people voted for one parade, and 38 people voted for two parades.
Although she was surprised by the response, Darr accepted it. The two schools will each make their own decisions about whether to hold a parade, she said. School administration will support both schools, no matter what they decide.
"If you take anything away from this meeting, take this," Womack said: "If the decision is to have two parades, the city will facilitate two parades."
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