Looking Back: Integrating Ocala’s schools

Controversy of the Names

In 1969, naming the new school and renaming Ocala High was the hot topic in town

BY CARLTON REESE WITH THE HISTORIC OCALA PRESERVATION SOCIETY

For most Ocalans today, the names Forest and Vanguard represent simple nomenclature to two of the main high schools in the city and not much more. Over 50 years ago, however, the naming of these two institutions was not so benign and sparked division and controversy that was a microcosm of the tumultuous times.

In 1968, during the last days of segregated schools, Ocala High School and Howard High School stood as the city’s main prep institutions, the former for white students and the latter for black students. In 1969, plans for a new high school on the north side of town were coming to fruition and the plan was to phase out Howard High and build an integrated school with a new name.

In the middle of it all was Mack Dunwoody, recently appointed by Florida Gov. Claude Kirk as Marion County Superintendent of Schools and charged with shepherding the county through the next phases of integration.

In November 1969, Dunwoody received 10 school names voted on by the student bodies at OHS (the morning session at that time were students of the traditional OHS and the afternoon session were to be those of the new school). Dunwoody’s instructions were that neither the names Ocala High nor Howard High could be included. The school colors (green and white for OHS and blue and gold for Howard) were also to be scrapped as well as the school mascots (Wildcats and Wild Bulls, respectively).

As public opinion was overwhelmingly in favor of not renaming Ocala High School, the School Board delayed its decision until a public opinion poll had been taken by the Ocala Star-Banner. The top three names for each school, as selected by the student bodies, would be submitted for a vote: Francis Marion, Forest and Seminole for the current school; Vanguard, Forest and Apollo for the new school.

The students voted overwhelmingly in favor of either Forest or retaining Ocala High for the current school and Vanguard for the new school.

As a lot of pride existed among alumni for both Ocala High and Howard High names, there was much resentment over the possibility the Ocala High name would be retained but not Howard. The tensions even spilled over onto campus, where some fights resulted in student suspensions, all over a decision by the School Board to allow the public to determine the school names by means of a straw vote and not by the students as promised by Dunwoody. A story in the Nov. 23 edition of the Star-Banner revealed tensions at the school heated up during a pep rally when some black students tried to “drown out the singing of the school’s alma mater.” The story credited a group of black athletes with “quieting down the disturbance and keeping matters from getting serious.”

The school student council, which consisted of black and white students, laid out their position to Dunwoody who described it thus: “If there is to be a climate where students of both races can attend school without trouble or violence, then the names Ocala High and Howard High must be eliminated in the names of both the present schools.”

Said one black student leader: “We lost our school, our colors, our mascot, our identity as a school. It does not seem too much to ask that the white community should give up the name of their school or else let us keep ours.”

According to a Nov. 28 edition of the Star-Banner, in a session with the board, Dunwoody and the OHS Student Human Relations Council, “The majority of white students side with black students in that if the OHS name is retained, then the new school should be named Howard High.”

On Dec. 9, results of the public poll were released and it was a lopsided victory for retaining the name Ocala High School, with a slim margin in favor of North Ocala High for the new school (write-ins were permitted). Meanwhile, another vote from the student body called for the new school to be named Vanguard and OHS to be renamed Francis Marion High School.

That same day, the School Board met to announce the schools’ names. In a 3-2 vote, the new school would be called Vanguard and OHS would be renamed Forest. Without board approval and upon recommendations from school principals, Dunwoody decided to keep the green and white color schemes for Forest while adding the gold trim that was used at Howard – the Wildcats mascot would remain. Vanguard would take on the blue color that was also in the Howard scheme and add red and white with Knights as the mascot.

Through it all, the adults argued their cases mainly through their own emotions and biases while the kids of the day seemed the most balanced. A newspaper report summing it all up stated, “A number of people speaking at the (School Board) session praised the students for taking a ‘more mature and far-reaching attitude than their parents.’”

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