From the Desk of the Head of School- September 4, 2020

9/4/2020

Dear Harding Academy Community,

Since our email from Friday, Aug. 28, we have been engaged in conversation with members of our Harding Academy community from past and present on both sides of the decision regarding the Harding mascot. We are grateful that so many have so much love for this learning community. We also know that some would rather we not change the mascot. Today, I want to address certain areas of concern about the decision to move forward with a new mascot that deserve more context. I hope this will be taken in the spirit it is intended – to inform and articulate a decision that is in the best interests of Harding Academy now and in the future. The decision for this change is a component of Harding’s strategic planning process and is the culmination of discussions over many years, with multiple Harding Academy constituencies.

This week, Ken Folger, Middle School Science teacher, who is beginning his 43rd year at Harding Academy, approached me in support of the mascot change. There are few in our community who have as long a sustained direct connection to Harding Academy as Mr. Folger, and I am grateful to him for taking the time to sit down with me and provide additional background. Mr. Folger’s firsthand account of the early years of the school, and the mascot, has informed the historical context that I offer here.

I want to be clear that this is not an issue with Generals as a military ranking or position, nor the positive values and characteristics leaders in our military personify. It is an issue with the origin of our mascot. As the book Harding Academy: A Silver Past, A Golden Future, 1971–1996, produced on the school’s 25th anniversary, states, “The Generals” mascot was picked “because Harding himself was a general.” “The Generals” refers to – directly or by inference – General William Giles Harding, proprietor of Belle Meade Plantation and whence (along with his father, John Harding) the Harding street name originated. He was a general in the Tennessee Militia and donated $500,000 to the Confederate States of America. Additionally, General William Hicks Jackson, his son-in-law who ran the plantation-turned-horse-farm after him, was a general in the Confederate Army. As originally conceived, our mascot was represented by a Confederate likeness. For example, a number of the early Harding Academy yearbooks featured a cartoon Confederate general on the cover. It is these ties to the Confederate cause that informed our decision to change the school’s mascot. This change is in no way a negative perception of those that have served and continue to serve honorably in our armed forces.

Some have asked why we are not also changing the name of the school. In my discussion with Mr. Folger, we discussed how Harding Academy was conceived of – and made a reality in – the four months between Memorial Day weekend 1971 and the start of school on Sept. 13, 1971. This timeframe was at the height of the debate in Nashville over busing and integration. Again from the book Harding Academy: A Silver Past, A Golden Future, 1971–1996: “The name was chosen because the property once belonged to the Harding family.”

This is our origin story, and it does not mean that our founders did not do great things. Through incredible personal effort and support, they created a school that has educated and inspired many young children. It is the school that has nurtured and supported, challenged and connected, loved and cared for so many. It is the school we have chosen for our children. Reconciling our school’s beginning with our lived experiences is conflicting and difficult. It is this complexity that many of you have asked to be a source of education for our students. I agree. Over these nearly 50 years, the Harding Academy name has come to mean a school of excellence, a school that invests in students and their families over the 10 most formative learning years of a child’s life. We want our name to continue to garner these feelings in our current and future families, and we want to use our school’s name and history as an educational opportunity for growth. This is why we are not changing the school’s name. We will own our name and our school’s origin story in the swirling politics of the early 1970s.

But a mascot serves a different purpose. It is a symbol intended to represent our school that we hope unifies our community in spirit. For many people, the direct association of our mascot with the Confederacy, which our current mascot implies, is saddening at best and hurtful at most. In fact, as we look over the school’s history, we find that after the early 1980s when the depiction of “The Generals” as a cartoon Confederate general was abandoned, our current mascot was rarely used in publications or on uniforms. By the early 2000s, “The General” had been transformed into a Revolutionary War-era general. In and of itself, this reimagination of the era of “The General” represents an awareness of the hurt our mascot engendered for members of our community. Ultimately, we cannot rewrite the mascot’s original association with the Confederate generals by changing the era of our “The Generals.” It will always be there. So, we will own our school’s history, educate around the Harding Academy name and unify around a new mascot.

While we highlighted the sentiments expressed by members of our faculty and staff in the letter to the board that came over the summer, the conversation has been happening with multiple constituencies for some time now. Each of the last three five-year accreditation plans of the school has included a stated goal around diversity. In pursuing these goals, it has become clear this work goes well beyond merely increasing the racial or ethnic composition of our student body and faculty. We always strive to create a culture that is caring and inclusive to all families, regardless of background. Having a mascot that does not originate from Confederate history is a significant and tangible way to signal that we are serious about this goal.

Last year, as part of our strategic planning sessions, the mascot was a central part of the conversation around diversity, equity and inclusivity. In January, we invited the entire community to a schoolwide Design Day, and this topic came up multiple times. When the board convened for its January 2020 board meeting, the change was discussed in detail, and the board agreed we would put a process around changing the mascot this year – in the context of our new 2020 Strategic Plan. So, I want to be clear that this was not a recent decision. It is a decision informed and grounded in a formal strategic planning effort and an ongoing conversation about the future of our school. It is a decision that the board made and that I fully support.

When we return on Tuesday, Harding Academy will continue being the school that balances how we challenge and nurture your child. We will continue to educate and inspire. I am so grateful and proud of our learning community. Through our shared efforts, we have been able to offer both in-person and remote learning options for our students and families in the midst of a global pandemic. Our children continue to relish their time together – in classrooms, at Kever Park, in the gym and all the other safe environments we are working together to provide every day. I cannot wait to continue the work of school for many weeks to come.

Have a great Labor Day weekend, stay safe, and stay healthy.

Sincerely,

Dave

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