By Glenn Rolfe

GEORGETOWN — Golden Knight tradition and the opening of the new Sussex Central High School several years from now has the school’s logo in the spotlight.

Spurred by constituent concerns, the Indian River School District plans to take the committee route to address the logo issue.

In addition to the original Golden Knight logo (a knight on a horse) and the current logo (a knight facing forward with a sword), several other versions have been or are being used, including an interlocking “SC” in yellow with a blue border.

At the May 24 board of education meeting, IRSD Superintendent Dr. Jay Owens said he has been approached by several community members concerned “with the transition away from our original Golden Knight logo used at Sussex Central to the more traditional logo that is currently on our signs within our school.”

“I did want to just open it up to a discussion,” Dr. Owens said. “And if we want to consider these logos and which logos we use for the new school, my suggestion would be to get a committee together with various stakeholders — students, staff members, what have you, the priority of the board here — to come up with some decisions on what logo we actually use.

IRSD Board President Rodney Layfield and board member Gerald Peden said they also have received concerns.

“I, too, was contacted by a very passionate community member about the old logos, and I do concur and agree with you that maybe a committee should be formed to discuss the different options,” said Mr. Peden.

Mr. Layfield added, “I think we should probably put together a committee … to look at it. I was contacted by a couple of these members. I love the traditional one. I like it. I think we keep it. But some people’s mind-set was different than mine, that we should only use the original one and get rid of everything else.

“So I think it’s worthwhile, rather than taking a vote and eliminate tradition, I think we just have a committee to look at it and see if we can find a way to be inclusive for everybody,” he continued. “Currently, what we have, what we use, what we used to use … keep the traditions alive and maybe even design a brand-new one for the new high school.”

If all goes according to plan, the 2,200-student Sussex Central High School will open in 2024. The current SCHS building will become the new home for Millsboro Middle School, and the existing middle school building in Millsboro will transform into another elementary school.

“We are in the process of designing a new Sussex Central High School, and with that, we will go through a branding process,” said Dr. Owens. “So I think this is an ideal time to look at our various logos and to come up with some decisions on which one or ones we may want to use moving forward.”

It was suggested by a board member that students be invited to participate in a competition to create a new logo scheme.

Mr. Layfield said he liked that idea.

“I am being told that the traditional logo was designed by a student in the ’60s. But I am not quite sure I understand because we didn’t consolidate the schools until 1969. So it may have been something that we brought the Georgetown school and put the Millsboro colors on,” said Mr. Layfield.

Dr. Owens briefed the board on the logo’s status.

“What I am understanding is that the logo made the transition to the current logo when we moved to the new school that we are currently in in 2004. That’s when we moved to this, the more modern-looking logo,” Dr. Owens said. “I can tell you that the Golden Knight logo is used within the school. I know Millsboro Middle School just purchased a wrestling mat that has the traditional logo on it. I do know that Sussex Central uses the logo on graduation materials and other distributions within the school. There are several that are used, including the interlocking SC, which is used with quite a bit of our athletics.”

Dr. Owens said the district may want to consider policies around “both the logos for our northern end, our feeders to Sussex Central with this Golden Knight, as well as our logos for Indian River High School and those feeder patterns, as well.”

Mr. Layfield asked, “(Have) logos at either one of our high schools ever been a topic for the board in the past? Sometimes, the board gets accused of getting too involved in different things.”

Dr. Owens replied that he wasn’t sure.

“We don’t have any policy that I am aware of around the logo, so I don’t think the board would have had a reason in the past to be part of that decision-making,” he said. “But I wasn’t part of that team, so I am not sure of it.”