By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
SAVANNAH - Outgoing Savannah board president Stancy Bond arguably became the face of the Savage mascot debate.
The last big vote during her time as president was on the motion to retain the 'Savage' nickname, but remove the Native American imagery and symbolism associated with it.
Bond's motion passed narrowly 4-3 Tuesday. That very night, she stepped down as board president. Joseph Barbosa now takes the baton.
"I've lived and worked with these people in this community for all of my life," he said. "Savannah and Andrew County is home. To be able to work with some excellent leaders, and for them to put their trust in me, I'm truly humbled and honored."
Barbosa was one of the four board members who voted in favor of the mascot image change. In fact, he brought it up as a suggestion during the debate Tuesday, and Bond made that suggestion into a motion.
Barbosa, however, had proposed the idea of keeping the Savage name, but changing its imagery long before Tuesday's meeting.
"There's a decent amount of our constituents who I think thought this was an idea worth discussing," he said. "That's what compelled me to bring it forward. This is the third time in my lifetime that I remember having this debate. I'd like our community to get back to focusing on educating our kids and making this a great place to raise a family."
Tuesday's vote was a long time coming, and it ended a 10-month long, and likely a years long, debate. The work doesn't stop there.
When Savannah's mascot committee presented their research to the school board in late March, they estimated it could cost up to $500,000 to remove the Savage imagery from uniforms, playing surfaces and other places throughout campus.
It could be a years-long process, and the imagery will be phased out overtime. But Barbosa, along with the entire board and administration, remain committed to preserving and honoring the history behind the Savage mascot.
"We're still the Savannah Savages," Barbosa said. "But, what emblem should we put on it? There's some beautiful art work in all of our schools that has that imagery. We want to preserve that, because our students worked hard to create that, and it's a part of our past. So, it's going to be a process, but I think that helps preserve our identity.
"I heard from constituents that they felt like this was an attack on their identity, and I did not want that to be the case. This is a moment where we preserve who we are, our history and a big piece of our town."
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