By Cyndy Slovak-Barton
Students at Hays High School will continue to get the chance to choose their fight song.
That’s the final word from Hays CISD. The process of choosing the fight song is expected to the complete by Nov. 13, unless students decide they want to write their own song.
The community discussion regarding the song “Dixie” continued at the board meeting Monday night, as some parents and former students asked the board to bring back the fight song “Dixie” immediately.
The discussion has come up at several board meetings, but this time around two speakers asked the board to not use Dixie as a fight song.
Trustees moved ahead with the idea of students voting on the song, with administrators helping with the selection process.
The timeline, as presented by HCISD Director of Student Services Neil Bonavita, shows three committees being set up.
A criteria committee made up of students would finalize their decision by Oct. 14 on criteria for selection of the song.
Between Oct. 14 and Oct. 30, students would nominate songs which meet the criteria set up by the first committee. The entire process would be published on the Hays High School website
By Oct. 30, the selection committee would apply the criteria and produce a slate of songs to be presented to student for voting.
The voting is expected to be completed by Nov. 13. The voting committee, also comprised of students, would decide whether the full student body would vote, or if representatives would make the decision.
Concern by board members about the possibility of accelerating the process was brought up several times with board member Bert Bronaugh beginning the discussion.
“I appreciate that you shortened the time frame from Jan. 15, 2016 to Nov. 13, 2015,” he said. The original plan called for the fight song to be voted on in January 2016.
However, Bronaugh wanted to make sure that, should students decide they could make the decision faster, it would be allowed.
Board President Merideth Keller agreed with Bronaugh.
“We’ve got to move on,” she said. “This is taking too much attention and time … The more this is dragging on, I feel like it is a festering wound.”
Bonavita said that as long as the students go through the process and engage on the three committee areas – criteria, selection and voting – then he would support accelerating the vote.
“If they can articulate their timeline, I’ll be the first to support this,” Bonavita said.
Some public comments at the beginning of the meeting centered on whether the district should allow “Dixie” to be played immediately until the vote in November.
Bradley Reed, former Hays High student, said he would like to see Dixie be allowed to be played now.
“Students are confident and completely able to create this conversation with very little input (from administration),” he said.
At this time, the tune of “On Wisconsin”, used by many schools across the country, is being played at games for Hays’ fight song.
But a counter proposal came from Hays High teacher Billy Norton, who also has children attending Hays CISD schools. Norton said that he was disappointed that the final decision was left to students.
“I am disappointed becase the responsibility of the decision was handed off,” he said. I’m a strong proponent of student rights and student choice, he said, and on the surface this would be good. However, the decisions made by the students cannot be done in a vacuum.
“There is an emotional attachment to the song, but the students don’t understand the social significance,” he said.
Emotions were certainly on display during comments, as speakers came to tears over the possibility that their students – as seniors at Hays High – would not be able to sing the school fight song.
Zak Hall, who spoke at the trustee meeting two weeks ago, said that, while his family is not from Texas, they actually do support the song.
“Why do we care so much?,” he asked the board. “It’s about family … That’s what this is all about for us. It’s about family.”
But his argument about family was countered by speaker Kenneth Davis, who said that his family, of mixed races, sees the song as causing a division in the community.
“I believe as long as you have the song Dixie, you’ll be divided,” he said.
He said that a neighborhood football player came to talk with him after going away to college and then starting his own business.
“Many years ago he asked me, ‘How could you let me run up and down the field knowing the connotations of that song?’” Davis said. “We’re not in a bubble. When our children get out of school, they deal with the rest of the world.”
Melissa Deichman, who has spoken to the board several times regarding “Dixie,” said she thinks the students are able to make the decision.
“These kids are responsible. We expect them to be very responsible,” she said.
