Howell Petitions Spar Over High School's Rebel Mascot

HOWELL, NJ — A petition circulating seeking to change the Howell High School mascot has set off an uproar in Howell Township, sparking a counter-petition and debate within the community.

And as the debate rages on social media, officials with the school district said change has been underway for sometime, apparently unnoticed by the public at large.

Howell High School's mascot has been the Rebels since its early days. The high school opened in the 1960s, first as Southern Freehold Regional High School. The Rebel has been represented by a soldier with white hair and a gray uniform, and the high school's colors have been blue and gray for many years.

In a petition posted on Change.org seeking to change the mascot, Meghan Marker says the image of a Confederate soldier "could not be more demeaning or out-of-touch." Her petition also requests the district drop the use of rebel and rebel yell, "as those terms also are commonplace in Confederate culture."

"The appalling history of the Confederacy should never be glorified or displayed, especially in a public institution that prides themselves on providing educational opportunities for all," she wrote in her petition.

The effort to remove the mascot is an outgrowth of the protests surrounding the death of George Floyd while he was in police custody. Floyd's death, after a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly 9 minutes, has stirred up significant discussion about racism in America.

Marker said the cartoon mascot "does not represent the values of the people it (the district) serves," and calls on the school district to change the mascot.

Marker, who shared the petition in a local Howell Facebook group, received a mix of positive and negative responses from the community. As of 3 p.m. Monday, the petition had more than 1,000 signatures.

It also had competition, as a petition urging the Freehold Regional High School District — Howell High School is one of six high schools in the district — to retain the Rebels mascot and the soldier likeness had sprung up. That petition had about 400 signatures by 3 p.m.

"To change the mascot would be an attempt to erase history and nobody wants that," wrote Laura B, who started the petition to retain the mascot and the Rebels name.

A poster in the Howell Happenings NJ Group on Facebook claimed the district was painting over and removing the old character logo on Monday, but the district said that claim was not true.

"Throughout the last several years, the district has taken action to remove the former image of this mascot," district officials said in a post on the Howell High School website. "For instance, the image has been removed from new uniforms and was not included when Howell High School’s turf field and basketball court were updated."

Instead, the cartoon drawing has been replaced with a block H, which has "been consistently utilized to symbolize the school," officials said. "We are continuing to take the necessary steps to remove any remaining public depictions of that former image."

The district said the Rebels nickname will remain in place.

"We will be working with our student body to hear their thoughts and design a new image for the school’s mascot in the near future," the district's message said.

Floyd, 46, died May 25 after a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck while arresting him following a 911 call reporting a counterfeit $20 bill.

Derek Chauvin, the police officer who was seen in multiple videos kneeling on Floyd's neck for more than 8 minutes before he died, was fired and has been charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter. He was scheduled to make his first court appearance on Monday. Three other Minneapolis police officers involved in the incident have been fired; charges of aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter were filed against them last week.

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