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Wow, you wrote that almost exactly 100% how I feel. I don't have all the answers, I feel like Jefferson was a great American....in some respects. In others, he was a piece of shit. Owning someone else as property, thru a modern lens, seems so outrageous, so horrendous, but in the context of society during the 1760s-1860s, it was perfectly acceptable in the culture. Is Jefferson an incredibly important part of the birth of America and one of the most influential Americans of the Revolutionary era? Absolutely. Did Jefferson participate in a system that was asinine and inhumane? Absolutely. Should we teach Jefferson and laud his accomplishments? Absolutely. Should we build statues and monuments to people who treated another human being in the same vein as a tractor or an axe? Absolutely not. But what's the answer? I don't have it. With Confederate monuments and the like, it's cut and dry to me. They fought against the federal government for the right to own slaves. When our country finally woke up and realized how terrible the practice was, these generals and Southern leaders decided to wage war bc the federal government said they couldn't expand slavery out west. It doesn't mean every single soldier who fought for the Confederacy was a bad person, most soldiers weren't slave owners IIRC, but it does mean they shouldn't be celebrated. Most statues of the Confederacy were built during pushes for civil rights, in the early 1900s and then the 1950s and 60s so it's obvious what the intent was there. So take them down, rename schools, etc.. (In a civilized manor. Mob justice is never the answer) But founding fathers are a different, way more complex issue and as a society we should decide how to proceed.

The man made invaluable contributions to western civilization. The man sold his own children into slavery - but just the black ones. Idk how to reconcile those two things. I understand that the question you asked was rhetorical... maybe we just need a reboot.

Ahhh. Seems kinda pointless to just consider grades 9-11 when you could easily count grades 9-12 and just add 1/3 back. My mistake, and apologies. Just when the VHSL starts making a little sense, they go and do something brainless like this. Honestly, the system we have now really isn’t that broken. Just stop the VHSL moles from leaking info to central VA school districts, and it works out well. This would carve up a bunch of districts and pretty heavily screw some of our mid-sized 2A schools (Ridgeview, Battle, Marion, etc). With those numbers, Graham and Lebanon probably fall to 1A, and Tazewell will be AWFULLY close to the cut line. Richlands is 2A easily, but playing against some schools nearly twice their size. The solution would be having mixed districts or combining schools into a hodgepodge (like the early 2010s MED). Could have a SWD-lite with Graham, Tazewell, Lebanon, Grundy, Patrick Henry, George Wythe.

The halftime speech of each game could motivate the kids to "do it for the Gipper".

More than a rumor it seems... https://www.timesnews.net/Sports/2020/06/23/VHSL-committee-recommends-going-to-4-classes-from-6.html?ci=stream&lp=8&p=1

Or throw jellybeans everywhere after a score.

There is one in Forsyth County, NC. Mascot is the Raiders. Nice alliteration there IMO.

I'd like to see a high school renamed after 40. It could be the Ronald Reagan "Capitalist Cowboys" Instead of a shooting a cannon, they could launch a cruise missile as the team ran onto the field.

Alrighty. Thomas Jefferson lived until 1826, so what then?

Honestly, there’s no reason a split like this can’t happen: 1A: 0-400 2A: 401-800 3A: 801-1200 4A: 1201-1600 5A: 1601-2000 6A: 2000+ The numbers won’t be even, but it makes more competitive sense than what we see now. It will also screw a few of the “line straddlers” in Central VA that get early info from the VHSL.

@RichlandsAlum that was my point, Nothing wrong with naming schools after presidents or whatever but it doesn't carry a lot of meaning. The directional names are terrible.Wise County has Central(terrible generic name) and Eastside(somewhat better). The only thing that may be worse is Patriot or Freedom (which VA now has 2 of). If a school system is going to change a schools name I like the more meaningful names better. Im ok with them changing the names, but it is a rabbit hole we have to be wary of. If were judging historical figures as Good or Bad based on one bad thing they did then they're all gonna come up short. Were looking at historical figures and their actions as black or white when we all know they're grey. Jackson was someone who was a traitor to his country, a patriot to and defender of his state, and someone who upheld slavery just like millions of others of his time, and held racist views just like the vast majority of the US during his time. Weve also adopted this viewpoint that the South was evil and the North was pro black equality, and thats simply not true. Judging either sides attitude toward blacks from todays viewpoint theyre both terrible.

We have multiple schools, including a governor’s magnet school, named after a bunch of slaveholders. Where do we draw the line.

Would love to see Giles get back to form and punk Riverheads.