By Sahar Chmais HAYS CISD -- Community members are split between whether $800,000 is a little too high or not high enough to rebrand the Hays High School Rebel mascot. Students are still cooking up a replacement mascot for the Rebel, but Hays CISD has calculated the costs of ushering in the new masc...

By Megan Wehring Schools across the state of Texas, including Hays High School, have reconsidered their mascot amid controversial outcry. The Hays Rebels originated in 1968. The school didn’t start distancing itself from Confederacy associations until the 2000s. In light of recent events, mass atten...

By Megan Wehring  The Hays Rebel mascot has spiked a recent controversy across social media and the community.  Students banded together at the Hays CISD Board of Trustees’ meeting Thursday night. Many shared their thoughts and experiences related to controversy around the rebel mascot.  As the Boar...

Hays Free Press Staff When the Hays CISD sent out a survey about changing Hays High’s mascot, it was seeking guidance from students, teachers and staff who would be affected. They responded — resoundingly. Almost 60 percent of students and more than 70 percent of teachers and staff were in favor of ...

With students dealing with COVID-19 pandemic, Black Lives Matter marches, and the possibility of Hays High mascot being changed, graduation went ahead last week for all three high schools. Above, a Hays High student respectfully kneels during the National Anthem, and Lehman High students enjoy a glo...

Even though it’s the students who will decide if Hays High School needs to replace its Rebel mascot, their parents have opinions on the subject. Comments in favor of keeping the mascot and changing it were expressed on the Hays Free Press Facebook page; however, three parents who spoke directly to t...

The Hays Rebels didn’t exist until 1968 – the same year Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated. However, the Civil Rights movement with all its marches and ideals were seemingly very far from Central Texas, where many communities were only just emerging from their rural cultures....

Should the student body of Hays High School decide it’s time to ditch its Rebel mascot, the pump is primed for the process to begin, Superintendent Dr. Eric Wright said. Spurred by dialogue on social media, emails from students and a petition, Wright told the Hays Free Press that district officials ...