Richland High School Drops Confederate-Related Themes, Becomes Royals
NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - Richland High School in North Richland Hills has been home of the Rebels since 1961, but as of last night, they're home of the Royals. They are the only high school in the state to have this nickname.
The change has been made, effective immediately. Birdville ISD trustees unanimously approved the new name in Thursday night's meeting. Principal Mark McCanlies discussed the change in a newly-released video.
"We've always been unique…" he said. "So when it was time to change mascots, we still wanted to be unique. You know there's 88 schools in Texas who were the Eagles and 87 Bulldogs, and we just didn't want to do that. We wanted to be something different."
This all came after a petition online against the school's Confederate-related symbols garnered over 25,000 signatures. In June, Birdville ISD voted to remove the name, forming a committee to discuss new mascots.
The committee consisted of alumni, students and staff. The other two mascot options were the Rattlers and the Raptors.
"We came up with three mascots all beginning with "R" because we still want to be "RR," McCanlies said.
The district is working with a graphic designer to develop and conceptualize the new Richland Royals brand.