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Members of the Leavenworth Board of Education voted Monday to accept a bronze statue for Leavenworth High School.
But the vote to accept the gift from the Leavenworth High School Alumni Association came only after board member John Pretz raised concerns about the statue.
The Alumni Association is still raising money for the statue, which will depict a pioneer man holding a musket, but board members were shown a model of what it will look like. The pioneer is used as the mascot for the high school and the rest of the school district.
Members of the association propose placing the eight-foot statue at the corner of 10th Avenue and Marion Street.
Pretz questioned the impact the statue may have on students as well as its appropriateness and whether or not the district would be buying a white elephant.
When he first saw a picture of the proposed statue, Pretz said his first impression was that it looked like a monument to white men. The board member said he thought of all of the students not represented by that image.
“It’s bronze,” board member Danny Zeck said. “The statue is bronze.”
Pretz said the chin, nose and face depicted on the statue “doesn’t even represent my part of Europe.” He said a good sculptor can make a figure that is racially ambiguous.
“We need to ask, ‘What is the impact on the students?’” he said.
He also said there were many kinds of pioneers in Kansas. He said being a pioneer had more to do with plows than guns.
Pretz said he was not sure the image depicted in the statue of a man in buckskin clothing and a coonskin cap was the appropriate image.
He said the statue will last at least 100 years. He raised concern about its maintenance.
Zeck made a motion to accept the gift of the statue and have it placed at the proposed location at Leavenworth High School. The motion was seconded by board member Loyal Torkelson.
Board vice president Mike Robinson said the pioneer has been a symbol of Leavenworth High School for a long time.
“This is a gift,” he said.
Robinson said he was bothered by the idea of telling Alumni Association members what their gift should look like.
Board member Donna Brown suggested that if people had a problem with the pioneer image, they should have objected when a Pioneer Pete logo was placed at the new Pioneer Stadium.
Members of the Leavenworth Board of Education voted Monday to accept a bronze statue for Leavenworth High School.
But the vote to accept the gift from the Leavenworth High School Alumni Association came only after board member John Pretz raised concerns about the statue.
The Alumni Association is still raising money for the statue, which will depict a pioneer man holding a musket, but board members were shown a model of what it will look like. The pioneer is used as the mascot for the high school and the rest of the school district.
Members of the association propose placing the eight-foot statue at the corner of 10th Avenue and Marion Street.
Pretz questioned the impact the statue may have on students as well as its appropriateness and whether or not the district would be buying a white elephant.
When he first saw a picture of the proposed statue, Pretz said his first impression was that it looked like a monument to white men. The board member said he thought of all of the students not represented by that image.
“It’s bronze,” board member Danny Zeck said. “The statue is bronze.”
Pretz said the chin, nose and face depicted on the statue “doesn’t even represent my part of Europe.” He said a good sculptor can make a figure that is racially ambiguous.
“We need to ask, ‘What is the impact on the students?’” he said.
He also said there were many kinds of pioneers in Kansas. He said being a pioneer had more to do with plows than guns.
Pretz said he was not sure the image depicted in the statue of a man in buckskin clothing and a coonskin cap was the appropriate image.
He said the statue will last at least 100 years. He raised concern about its maintenance.
Zeck made a motion to accept the gift of the statue and have it placed at the proposed location at Leavenworth High School. The motion was seconded by board member Loyal Torkelson.
Board vice president Mike Robinson said the pioneer has been a symbol of Leavenworth High School for a long time.
“This is a gift,” he said.
Robinson said he was bothered by the idea of telling Alumni Association members what their gift should look like.
Board member Donna Brown suggested that if people had a problem with the pioneer image, they should have objected when a Pioneer Pete logo was placed at the new Pioneer Stadium.
“We don’t have to make an issue about everything,” she said.
Pretz said he didn’t want people to think he objected to the statue.
“I like that statue,” he said. “I think it is cool.”
But he felt obligated to know for sure that it won’t have a negative impact on students.
Robinson said Pretz was selling Leavenworth High School students short. He said the student body is by and large color blind.
Pretz attempted to amend Zeck’s motion in order to table the matter for a month.
But he was the only person to vote for this amendment.
Zeck’s original motion passed 5-2 with Pretz and board president John Chapman voting against it.
Pretz later said he was “kind of glad” he’d lost on the issue.
“I felt that we had to ask a question,” he said. “The question got answered.”
