Students weigh in on board’s resolution

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Alyssa Boos

Senior Lilly Ruiz-Pineda talks to her friend in the lunchroom. Ruiz-Pineda wore a red shirt, stating, ‘Same history, stronger future.’

On Friday, November 19, students who support renaming the school went to the commons after sixth hour to peacefully stand, wearing ‘Red Against Fred’ as they called it, as a way to show where they stand on the name change. Students choose red as the color, as it “truly represents courage”, according to senior Hannah Mott. 

“We are doing this protest to show that we [the students] are done being asked to speak up, but then immediately silenced by our community. This is a peaceful way to show our support, and where the students stand on this issue,” Mott stated.

The Seaman Board of Education passed a resolution on the name change at the November 8, 2021 board meeting.This resolution disassociated the name Seaman with Fred Seaman, and instead, associates it with the community members that built this community. Additionally, the board resolved to remove any imagery of Fred Seaman from USD 345 buildings. However, some were disappointed with the boards decision. 

“I am thoroughly disappointed by the decision made by the board. We will never be able to disassociate Fred Seaman from our school district when we continue to wear clothes with his name on it, put our achievements under his name, and represent his name wherever we go,” Mott continued.

Hannah, who was a participant of the protest this Friday, wore red to show that students supporting the name change aren’t finished with this movement, and will continue to make their voices heard. 

“We hope to show that the students are here, and will fight with everything we have left to make this school more inclusive and welcoming to students of all backgrounds,” Mott concluded.

While the renameseamanschools Instagram and the supporters spread the wear “Red Against Fred”, a student on the opposing side, who prefers not to be named, decided to act, stating that students against the protest should wear green to counter protest and have their voices heard as well. 

Senior Greg Lady, who also supports keeping the name, states, “We are doing this to prove the point that changing the name Seaman doesn’t change who created the school originally. The message that this promotes is that even though we don’t agree with Fred Seaman, there’s no need to rename the school.”

For this counter protest, the protesters decided to wear green to support not changing the school’s name. Lady said that to his knowledge, the reason green was chosen as the counter protest color, was because it’s the opposing color of red.

“I knew some people weren’t going to be happy and something like this was gonna happen. People will always disagree. As the board has already made their decision, if you don’t like it then why not leave? If you can’t leave, then do a favor and don’t complain,” Lady stated. 

Lady believes that the name shouldn’t change, pointing out the cost that it will take to rename the school, and asking the question that if the name is changed, would there be a decline in the number of students that went to the district? He also brings up what others’ perception of  the district if the name is changed, stating, “If we change the name, will people see us as trying to run from history or even hide it?”

However, Lady clarified, “I want everyone to know that our counter protest is not to agree or associate with Fred Seaman. What he did was wrong, but history is history. You can’t cover it up, and those that try to do so, leave people to not learn about it or try to at least. Those people that don’t learn from history are eventually bound to do it again in an in-educated [sic] manner.”

In response to  the board establishing the resolution last week, students for the name change have decided to continue fighting, while the students against the name change have shown that they will continue to fight as well.