Valerie Parnell, Seminole County Watch columnist

Words.  They are truly amazing.  Nothing more than a collection of letters that independent of one another seem to matter little.  But put them together and they can become quite powerful.

Their strength and power come from what we choose to afford them.  Some words mean much to us, some mean little.  And to each of us, that level of degree is a personal decision.

The best evidence I have ever seen of this came on a radio talkshow when the subject was an offensive term that had been used by a public official.  An elderly male caller said people were being too sensitive and needed to pay less attention to words.

In response, the host asked the caller, "What if you were Italian and I called you a 'ginny'?"

"So what?" said the caller.  "Only words.  Big deal."

"What if you were Polish," asked the host, "and I called you a 'dumb Polock'?"

"So what?" said the caller.  "Only words.  Big deal."

"What if," the host then asked, "I called you a 'fag'?"

"I'd rap you in the mouth so hard, you'd never stop hurting," said the caller.

The host's point had obviously been made.

Words.  They are the essence of our communication.  They have moved people to great heights of joy, great depths of despair, to mobilize in support of great causes, and to ignore those whose words do not "move" us.

Interestingly, all of those reactions are present in an ongoing situation involving the new high school that will open this year in Oviedo. 

The Seminole County School Board moved retiring Superintendent Paul Hagerty to great heights of joy when they announced at a retirement party for Hagerty on June 6, 2003, that they would name the new school Hagerty High School.

Larry Furlong was then a member of the School Board, and as such, he had also acted as the unofficial president of the Paul Hagerty Booster Club.  Furlong often told anyone within earshot how fortunate Seminole County was to have Hagerty as its superintendent.

It was no surprise, then, that Furlong came up with the idea to name the school after Hagerty.  Similarly, it was no surprise when Hagerty said, "It was just a wonderful tribute, very humbling and exciting at the same time.  My family and I have been walking on air ever since."

The news was very surprising, however, to the students who would be attending the new school, and to their parents as well.  The School Board's announcement of their "little secret" at Hagerty's retirement party not only surprised those in attendance but the entire community as well.

Unlike other schools, attendees of the new high school were to have no input or say in what their own school would be called.  Instead, they were being told to accept it as an arbitrary decision by a School Board seeking to make a retiring colleague happy.

The School Board did not take into account that it was making many in the school's community unhappy.  When it was brought to the board's attention, the only response was one that said "the decision has been made, so live with it."

Those words mobilized many students and parents into action.  They looked at the School Board policy for the naming of schools, and found the School Board obviously had failed to do the same.

The students and parents used the School Board rules as their guidelines to take action, and, having done what the rules said needed to be done, they went to the School Board to work out a compromise.

The School Board heard them knocking at the door, but refused to answer.  Instead, they ignored the words of the students and parents, perhaps because they were too adherent to the words found in School Board policy.

For whatever reason, the School Board has chosen to say "Your words do not move us, nor will they."  They have chosen to leave the students and parents standing on the front porch, their knocks at the door and requests for dialogue being ignored.

"We do not want to hear what you have to say," are the implicit words from the School Board.  The students and parents have learned they may as well be talking to a wall, which is all they are left to do.

if the walls of high schools could talk, they surely would tell many stories of school pride amongst their students.  That pride is often tied to the school's name.  Those same walls could probably also tell stories of students being traumatized by words, sometimes including their own names.

Such memories are high on my list of school day recollections.  Every so often, there would be a fellow student whose name was the source of ridicule that they had to endure virtually every day of their school lives. 

Whenever I saw that, I would always ask, "What were their parents thinking when they gave them that name?  Didn't they realize how cruel kids can be?"

The students who will be attending Hagerty High school have the same concerns, and are now asking the same questions of the School Board, with the hope it is not too late for sensible decision to be reached.

Is it a big deal that students attending the high school will undoubtedly be called "Hag Fags", or that the name on the school's sign will constantly be defaced, as it already has?

Probably not, but it also is not necessary and can be avoided.  It would not be a big deal for the School Board, and Paul Hagerty, to realize this and to put community interests ahead of their own.

Interestingly, the "good" of the community has been the School Board's recurrent theme in recent rezoning attempts, as they have repeatedly told individuals adversely affected by the process to put the good of the community ahead of their own wishes.

Is it a big deal that the school's name does not reflect the community in which it is located, and the people who live their daily lives there?

Probably not, but it does violate one of the longstanding "rules" of naming schools, which is that they be tied to the community in some way.

It would seem incumbent upon the School Board that they, if anyone, abide by the rules, especially their own.

If Paul Hagerty were the man the School Board asserts he is by affording the honor of naming the school for him, he would step forward and defer to the community, rather than doing the opposite. 

Sadly, when the parents asked Hagerty to do so, his response was to express concern about his integrity being tarnished if he were to do so.

It's a funny thing about words.  No matter how powerful they can be, they never speak as loudly as actions.

Paul Hagerty's name on a building is only that.  But his allowing it to be there, in the way it came to be, says much more about his true character than any imaginary honors his friends can bestow upon him.

The parents and students of Hagerty High School have established a website with more information.  It can be accessed at www.renamehaghigh.com

Send an email to Valerie Parnell