A ship logo for the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District will be permanently docked.
After again hearing pleas to stop using the logo, linked to Christopher Columbus’ ship despite a lack of connection to Santa Maria, board members on Tuesday directed staff to return with a process and timeline for finding a replacement.
But board members also emphasized that the matter wasn’t urgent for staff dealing with a return to campus and other COVID-19-pandemic-related issues.
“I’m not opposed to changing the logo because I think it should be formally adopted by the board, and it should have some context to it,” board member Dominick Palera said.
He read the district mission and vision statement, adding that the logo should reflect the educational purpose.
“Reading those and looking at the picture of the ship, they don’t reflect each other. They’re not the same thing,” board member Amy Lopez said.
The origin of district’s logo remained vague and may have stemmed from former leaders deciding decades ago to copy the city, according to the school district’s research.
In 1971, the City Council adopted the ship as its logo, and it can be found today around City Hall, on city vehicles and police officers’ badges, and as decorative tiles on freeway overcrossings.
“Our district archives indicate the ship logo appears on district letterhead in the 1976 and 1977 board minutes and on letterhead in personnel files starting in 1979,” Superintendent Antonio Garcia said. “We see a time frame of the mid- to late 1970s where this logo begins to appear on formal district documents.”
Research spanning 80 years, from 1901 to 1980, revealed that the board apparently never formally took action to adopt the logo.
“The ship logo is not mentioned on any agendas or mentioned in any minutes,” Garcia said.
Santa Barbara County’s largest city doesn’t have a connection to Columbus and instead adopted the name after discarding Central City to avoid confusion with a Colorado community.
John Thornburgh, one of the settlers who donated land for the community, suggested the name that Juan Pacifico Ontiveros had called his property some years before — “Santa Maria” — according to city history.
Ontiveros and his wife, Maria, purchased Rancho Tepusquet in 1856, calling it Santa Maria since they arrived on the feast day of Mary.
Several community members have called for an end to the ship logo, which also is used by the local newspaper.
In letters sent the district, commenters, both adults and students, called for the logo’s elimination, noting the atrocities by Columbus, and labeled the logo offensive since it symbolizes oppression, genocides and more.
“It is long past time for a re-examination of our history and to pick appropriate new symbols that represent unity and equity,” Pam Gates wrote.
Board members noted that the ship exists throughout the district — on letterhead, vehicles and even the board dais.
“It’s everywhere,” Palera said. “If you start looking around the district and at all of our schools, the ship is in a lot of places.”
While the logo’s fate appears to be nearing an end, board members suggested that the district limit new uses for now.
Any process to pick a replacement should include students, board members agreed.
“We want to ensure it’s something that is representative with a sense of belonging for everyone,” board member Carol Karamitsos said.
Garcia agreed to return, possibly as soon as this fall, spelling out the process and timeline, although board members said the item could wait, if needed, until the spring.
“I think we all agree it needs to reflect what our district is about,” Lopez said. “I’m just concerned with the timing.”
“Focus on what you need to right now — the students and keeping our schools open and our staff safe,” Palera said.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.