Columbia Board of Education strips name from Rock Bridge field
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Columbia Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday to strip the name from the field at Rock Bridge High School after scrutiny of the man it was named for.
The athletics field at Rock Bridge will no longer be called the Wayne Sells Family Activity Field. School district officials pushed to rename the field last week after social media posts by Sells that used profane insults toward NFL players who kneel during the national anthem.
School board President Helen Wade labeled the posts racist.
"While Mr. Sells’ financial gift to the school for improved athletic facilities was and is appreciated, the content of the post is not representative of the values of Rock Bridge High School, Columbia Public Schools, or of the Columbia Board of Education," the district said in a statement last week.
All the board members spoke in favor of removing the name from the field.
"I know how deeply felt the impact of those words were to so many of our students and community members, I too believe it is appropriate to remove Mr. Sells name from the scoreboard at this time," Wade said.
The vote came during a special board meeting Thursday at which the board also discussed bringing students back into classrooms in phases. CPS is currently holding classes online-only.
Sells wrote a letter to the school district last week. In it, he asked that his name be removed from the field and suggested naming it Veterans Memorial Field. Sells is a U.S. Army veteran. The kneeling players by been criticized by some as being unpatriotic or anti-military.
CPS Board member, David Seamon, said an apology without actions are just simply words.
"This is an emotional matter for me, I want to thank Mr. Sells for his apology and I am looking forward to the actions he takes that go along with that apology," he said.
The board did not vote on a new name of the field at Thursday's meeting due to CPS's policy.
"I do not think it is appropriate to move forward with a renaming of the field at this time because that would contravene the policy that we have in place," Wade said.
A board member said the sign at the field will be covered as soon as possible.
