School hopes fans use student banner, not Confederate flag

Sports teams at the school are called the Rebels and fans often wave the Confederate flag at games.

“We’ve always emphasized to people that the Confederate flag doesn’t have anything to do with the school itself,” principal Greg Harvey said Tuesday. “We have a lot of school spirit, and I think people sometimes see (Confederate flags) and mistake it for something other than that.”

The school is not changing the Rebel nickname or banning the Confederate flag, Harvey said.

“We haven’t changed anything. We’ve had a little contest to let the students develop a school flag. They came up with some designs and picked a winner, and we’re going to have some of those made,” Harvey said.

In 2003 Sullivan East High School principal Mary Rouse did ban the Confederate flag from school grounds after some students said the flag’s presence made them uncomfortable. Sullivan East is in Bluff City.

As part of the settlement of a civil rights lawsuit, students, staff, teachers and administrators throughout the entire Sullivan County school system began four years of sensitivity training in 2003.

The Justice Department mandated the training after two black former Sullivan East students sued the school system over racial harassment that included physical conflicts. They received an undisclosed financial award.

The Maryville Board of Education in August banned the Confederate flag — along with all other flags, signs and noisemakers — from school sporting events. Some members of the board said the symbol is racially divisive.