“We are Buffaloes”: Arkadelphia school board urged to drop Badger logo from new Peake campus

By JOEL PHELPS | arkadelphian.com

The newly built Peake Elementary School is difficult to miss. With 83,000 square feet of learning space for K-4 elementary students, the two-story campus now seems to dwarf all other Arkadelphia landmarks.

But one thing in particular about the new school stands out more than anything for some alumni of the historically Black school: the red, white and blue Badger emblem that is part of the back-lit LED signage above the main entrance.

With standing room only at the Sept. 17 meeting of the Arkadelphia Board of Education, Peake High School alumnus and Arkadelphia pastor Llewellyn Terry Sr. addressed concerns of the Buffaloes Foundation and Peake High School Alumni Foundation.

Terry was given 5 minutes to make his arguments heard. Because of a school board policy regarding public hearings, the board was not obligated to respond immediately afterward, nor are they obligated to respond at a later meeting.

Terry questioned the school board as to how the decision was made to add the Badger, who was responsible for the decision, and when it was made. Terry cited an entry in the online Encyclopedia of Arkansas that reads, “As a way to connect the campus to the original school, the mascot of Peake High School, the buffalo, continues to serve as the mascot of Peake Elementary.”

Following a reorganization of schools in 1985 — when fourth grade was moved to Peake and seventh grade was moved to Goza Middle School — the Buffalo was used as the mascot for Goza’s seventh grade football team (the eight and ninth grade teams were known as the Beavers), although afterward Peake retained the Buffalo as its school mascot, according to local historian and Southern Standard newspaper publisher Joe May.

Terry argued that the school board and/or administration failed to include community input when making the decision to add the Badger logo at Peake’s campus.

“Why put a Badger on Peake? We are Buffaloes,” Terry said. “We are certainly all Badgers, but some of us are also Buffaloes.” He referenced some Northwest Arkansas school districts, namely in Springdale and Bentonville, that have multiple mascots. The difference between those districts and Arkadelphia, Terry contended, was the public input that went into making the call. “When those decisions were made, they got the community involved,” Terry said.

As his allotted time drew to a close, Terry said, “If we’re going to make a positive impact on all our students and those who have passed through [Peake], all of history needs to be talked about … We need to inform our students about everything: the good, the bad, the black, the white, any and all.”

In conclusion, Terry called for the Badger emblem to be changed to a Buffalo.

School board policy does not mandate a decision or to acknowledge the comments made.