Edina Administrators Reverse on Hornette Name Change

Two weeks after being overwhelmed by the name of  fall dance line, district administrators have opted to retain the Hornette moniker.

The 53-year-old dance line did not want to drop the "te" from its name to become the Hornets, which the district had said was intended to unify the Spirit Squad under one brand. Packed school board meetings, petitions and a tremendous social media push were apparently enough to catch the attention of officials, who met with parents late last week to discuss the situation. 

The district released a statement this week announcing its decision to keep the fall dance team's Hornette name, saying they "made this decision in the best interests of our students and our school community."

While the team will still be called the Hornettes, plans to fold them into the high school's new Spirit Squad for the 2012-13 school year remain intact. The reorganization is aimed at improving collaboration between the various clubs and teams while engaging students in school pride.

EHS Principal Bruce Locklear painted the decision to keep the Hornette name as a small concession to help focus everyone's attention on a bigger issue: hazing.

"Through all of the social media, we started to see a lot of talk of hazing emerge," Locklear said. "We were faced with a much larger issue than changing the name of a fall dance team. In hopes of getting the parents and students to come along with us to address this problem, we opted to give the name back."

Locklear said several of the Facebook pages created to drum up support for the Hornette name wound up uncovering allegations of hazing, which district officials began looking into immediately. In hopes of addressing the problem as efficiently as possible, he said the main goal quickly shifted to getting everyone involved "on board with a common goal."

"If it's happening at least one time in our school, that's one time too many," Locklear said. "We all have a certain amount of energy available, so redirecting everyone's energy to creating a program with an anti-hazing focus for our school was necessary."

John Karlson, whose daughter was captain of the Hornettes last year, sat in on the meeting between parents of team members and district administrators last week. He said it was "passionate and intense throughout," but Superintendent Ric Dressen, Locklear and other district officials took the time to truly listen to the arguments.

While the district never outright attributed the reason for the Hornette name change to hazing, Karlson said it became clear during the group conversation that the two were linked.

"I think the administration ultimately realized that changing the name wasn't going to do a lot toward our mutual goal of stopping hazing," Karlson said. "One of the best ways to combat hazing is to have an open dialogue with parents and have parents on board. I believe we have that now."

Administrators are still in dialogue right now as to how to best tackle hazing at EHS, but Locklear said he's going to make it a priority for next school year.

"We deal with what we hear, but there's so much we don't hear and don't know," he said. "Any educational program we make won't be solely about the Hornettes, but about our school in general. We want to make sure we're taking a bad situation and turning it into an educational opportunity for our students."

Though initial plans had called for the Hornettes to perform at fewer events throughout the year, Karlson said the agreement at the meeting was to let the Spirit Squad coaches hash it out themselves without a dictated solution from either parents or administrators.

The high school's new Spirit Squad will include the Pep Band, Sideline Cheer, Comp Cheer, Mascot, Hip Hop Dance Team, Fall Dance Team and Winter Dance Team. Spirit Squad coaches and advisors will meet on May 3 to develop a plan for spirit activities during the 2012-13 school year.

Upon conclusion of the fall and winter sports seasons, the Spirit Squad approach will be reviewed and assessed for its effectiveness, according to the district.

"We were all happy with the outcome," Karlson said. "At the end of the day, we're preserving a 53-year-old tradition. It'll be a lot of fun to go to that first football game and see a great performance by the Edina Hornettes."

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