FORT SMITH (KFSM) -- With the new logo for Southside High School unveiled, Principal Wayne Haver is looking at options for new athletic uniforms, along with designs for the gym and football field.
Everything at the school reading “Rebels” or “Rebs” will be gone for the start of the 2016-2017 school year.
Haver said the gym and football field will be redesigned this summer, and new uniforms will be ordered soon.
“It’s really been a smooth, smooth transition,” Haver said.
Mark Verlander of Verlander Designs provided potential uniform designs for review, and Haver said it will ultimately be up to the coaches to pick out what they want the uniforms to look like.
Not every sport will take part in the update, because some uniforms are not labeled with "Rebels" or "Rebs."
“Some of our baseball and softball uniforms have Southside on them, so that'll still be viable for us,” Haver said.
Haver said it has not yet been decided what will happen to the old uniforms after the transition is made.
"They certainly may be auctioned, they certainly may be sold," he said. "We may give students first choice on them (that are here now) to get their own jersey, things like that."
Seniors at the school, like Addison Mitchell, will graduate as Rebels.
“I’ll graduate the last class of the Rebels, and also as a Dixie Belle,” she said.
She said next school year, the Dixie Belles will be called the Southern Belles.
“It’s the tradition, all the aspects and not just the name,” she said. “We still have all the girls, same practices, same tryouts, same outfits. I don't think the name is a huge part of it."
Haver said despite the transformation throughout the school, trophies and awards that may say “Rebels,” and any photos displayed in the halls with Confederate flags will remain.
In July 2015, the school board said making changes to the uniforms would cost about $200,000.