Friday, November 13, 2009 8:56 PM CST
School debates change of colors
By DAVE FOPAY, Staff Writer
dfopay@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON — It hasn’t been known as a junior high school for 12 years, but at Charleston Middle School last spring, some students wore track uniforms that still had the letters “CJHS” on them.
It’s time to replace the school’s track uniforms and that will happen before the new season begins, as the Trojan Booster Club will buy new uniforms for the CMS track teams. The question is whether those uniforms will be the CMS colors of orange and black or match Charleston High School’s red and gold.
With uniforms also showing stains, fraying and holes, “now is the time” to replace them, booster club President Kathleen Bates said. It’s the club’s largest uniform purchase, more than $17,000 for 200 and 100 warmup suits for the CMS track teams and uniforms for cheerleaders as well, so it’s also a good time to make the middle school’s colors the same as the high school’s, she also said.
Bates said changing the colors could mean the two schools could share sports uniforms if booster club funds get tight and the club can’t buy new ones as often as it does now. The club has the money for the track uniforms but also has a new concession stand and other projects “on the docket,” she said.
Also, parents might not have to buy new PE uniforms right away when their children move from CMS to CHS, so it could save them money, too, she added. Both CMS and CHS require students to wear uniforms of the schools’ colors for PE classes.
Bates brought the idea to the school board last month, but the board wanted to take some time before making a decision. The board will discuss the proposal during its meeting Wednesday but doesn’t plan to vote until the meeting of Dec. 16.
“That gives people the opportunity to come up and let us know what their feelings are,” board President Ron Miller said. “It can be an emotional issue to some people.”
Miller said people can contact board members, call the district central office at 639-1000 or call CMS at 639-6000 if they want to provide input. He said he hasn’t heard any comments since the October board meeting but thinks the change “makes sense economically in the long term.”
Bates said she’d take comments on the proposal, too, and people can call her at 273-2535.
The two schools’ colors have been different since before the current middle school building opened in 1968, retired CMS Principal Tom Everett said. He was a teacher at the school when it moved from what’s now Jefferson Elementary School and said the colors were orange and black at the former location. He didn’t know why they started out different than the high school’s.
CMS teacher Karen Garrett said the idea to change the colors has come up from time to time during the 30 years she’s been there. She said when longtime Principal John Dively was at the school, he was against the idea because he wanted the school to have its own identity, and she agrees.
“I’m a traditionalist,” Garrett said. “It’s been orange and black for a long time. I don’t see any more of a reason to change it now than there ever has been.”
She and Everett both said they don’t think many high school students could fit into a middle school student’s uniform, or vice versa. That and wear and tear would probably limit the plan for the schools to share uniforms. Garrett also said a shared uniform couldn’t have “CMS” or “CHS” printed on it because a student at either school might end up wearing it.
CMS Assistant Principal and Athletic Director Brad Oakley sent an e-mail to the school’s staff asking about the proposal. He said 20 responded, with 16 saying they favored it, two saying they were “OK” with it and two opposed.
Oakley said he understands the tradition with the current colors but also mentioned the possible advantage of students being able to use clothing longer.
“It’s just a good idea,” Oakley said. “With the economic times we’re in, it seems to make sense.”
There are other things at the school in orange and black that might have to change. Included are a large Trojan painted on the gym’s wall — the CMS team nickname is “Little Trojans” while the high school’s is “Trojans” — and mats on the walls of the gym. Bates told the school board last month that the booster club would help with the expense of making those changes.
Bates also said the people with whom she’s spoken are “very much in favor” of the change.
“I think they really understand the financial impact,” she said.
The booster club buys uniforms for the two schools’ teams on a rotating basis, so it would take a few years to change all of CMS’s uniforms to red and gold, Bates explained.
Oakley said he and the school’s coaches understand that could mean some teams would wear orange and black while others are in red and gold during the same school year. It would be a “huge burden” on the booster club to change all the uniforms at once, he said.
Contact Dave Fopay at dfopay@jg-tc.com or 238-6858.
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mom of twins wrote on Nov 14, 2009 9:51 AM: