Could a high school’s new name prove divisive for the Clover School District?
Clover school board members have less than a week to settle on new school names, mascots and colors that are likely to last generations.
Board members want things that will bring communities together and honor past generations for a new high school, middle school and elementary school. They have to figure out how far the Eagle mascot should fly. There’s also the question of whether a widely popular high school name might upset a big chunk of the district.
Here are four big questions facing board members ahead of the final name, mascot and color decisions on Jan. 29:
Is Lake Wylie a divisive high school name?
An October community survey generated about 2,300 responses. January focus groups brought together about 20 people each to discuss the three new schools planned to open in 2026. Lake Wylie was the top high school name from the survey. The high school focus group went with Wylie.
Five recommended options from that focus group are Wylie, Lakeside, East Clover, Lake Wylie and Liberty Hill.
“These were all basically within two votes each,” said Bryan Dillon, district public information officer.
The focus group started with a lengthy conversation on how a new name shouldn’t divide the district. But the group deferred to the school board to decide how Lake Wylie fits.
“You have varying opinions on what would be divisive and what would not be,” Dillon said.
Clover is a 137-year-old town on the west side of the district. Lake Wylie is an unincorporated community on the east side that’s ballooned in population just in the past 50 years. The two areas vary considerably in demographics, home sale prices, traffic and more.
The new high school is closer to Lake Wylie than Clover, where most of the residential growth has come in recent decades. The Lake Wylie name could create more of a sense of place for an area that isn’t a city or town. But the board heard concerns it could further alienate Clover residents who may already feel Lake Wylie growth is the reason more schools are needed.
Should Clover schools stay Eagles?
The most common mascot from surveys and focus groups, across school levels, is some variation of Eagle. Clover High School uses the Blue Eagle. Slight tweaks, like when Oakridge Middle School opened as the Golden Eagles, could carry the theme.
Focus groups recommended either all three new schools go with the Eagle concept, or none of them do.
“They didn’t want a single school to break with the tradition,” said Stephanie Knott, district marketing director.
On Monday, the board discussion seemed to veer from Eagle.
“I don’t think there’s any way we stay with the Eagles,” said board member Rob Wallace. “I don’t know any community that has two high schools named the same thing.”
Four of seven elementary schools, plus all three high and middle schools, have at least some reference to Eagles now. Board member Matt Burris said his mother, a long-time educator in the district, warned him against straying from the Eagle theme.
“There’s obviously some sentimental value there for anybody that’s grown up in this town being a one high school town, to grow up knowing that you will be a Blue Eagle,” Burris said.
But there are reasons, from the fun of more mascots to the growing number of schools with only so many colored eagles to choose from, to go the other way.
“The time for that to change, in my opinion, has come,” Burris said.
Clover would be in an unusual position to keep adding Eagle options, said board member Ginger Marr.
“Clover is at a different time and place now,” she said. “There are very few districts with as many schools as we will have, who are able to stay with one mascot.”
A main reason to look for new mascots is the middle school, where there’s already a strong new — and old — candidate in mind.
Should middle school honor Roosevelt past?
The clear front-runner for the new middle school name is Roosevelt. The Tiger mascot with blue and gold colors fills out the recommendation. Those details are the nearest to a consensus decision as any produced by focus groups or board discussion.
“It’s a tremendous opportunity to honor that heritage in this community,” Burris said.
Roosevelt High School served Black students in the Clover area before school integration. It was open from 1952 to 1970. The proposed mascot and colors pull directly from the historic school.
Board member Keron Meeks said there’s been chatter in the community about how close the new middle school is to Clover High School. Decades ago Roosevelt and Clover were separate, Meeks said.
“Clover would be beside Roosevelt, and we would be more or less together,” he said.
Board members liked the idea of carrying over the mascot and colors as a nod to many in the community who attended Roosevelt.
“If we’re doing it to honor an historic part of our community, let’s don’t do it halfway,” said board member Mike Ballard.
The only feedback against using Roosevelt for the new middle school was some focus group feedback that the original Roosevelt was a high school, and it should be considered for a high school now.
How will the Clover school board make its final name, mascot picks?
The board has both district guidelines and focus group recommendations to consider. Some of the points that could steer decisions include:
▪ The board doesn’t want to duplicate a name from another school in the region. There’s a South Point High School just north in Belmont, for instance, and a South Pointe High School just south in Rock Hill. Avoiding duplicates would rule out Riverside for the high school, since there’s one already in Greer.
▪ Schools named for people are allowed, but not preferred. History can change public perception of people and school names could become controversial, Dillon said. That exclusion doesn’t apply to Roosevelt where the name would reflect the former area school rather than its namesake President Franklin Roosevelt.
It also didn’t stop focus groups from submitting Wylie as a high school name based on brothers Walker Gill and Robert H. Wylie who were integral in creating the lake, rather than opting for Lake Wylie.
▪ The district wants to avoid names that cause confusion. Oakridge Elementary and Middle schools are beside each other and can cause mail, emergency responders or parents to go to the wrong school, Dillon said. The new high and elementary schools will be beside one another and had similar name suggestions.
There are plenty of name and mascot options for both schools to have something different, said Superintendent Sheila Quinn.
“There is a good bit of history right in that area, that is unique to that spot,” Quinn said.
▪ The board doesn’t have to go with any of the recommended options. Board members discussed, for instance, adding Elias Hill back to the recommended elementary school name list of Lakeside, Liberty Hill, Mountain View and Allison Creek. Elias Hill was removed due to being a person’s name, but there was some board support to consider it to honor the former enslaved person turned civil rights activist.
▪ Colors will be aligned once mascots are chosen. Mascots aren’t likely to be duplicates of any other schools in the region. The board didn’t narrow down many high school names outside the Eagles discussion on Monday. Thrown-out suggestions include unusual ones like Thunderbirds (Camp Thunderbird is in Lake Wylie), Nuclear Catfish (Catawba Nuclear Station is on the lake) and 49ers (S.C. 49 runs through the area, plus there were historic mines to make cannonballs).
This story was originally published January 23, 2024 at 1:27 PM.
