so very sad at just how intolerant this nation has become and how we just bend over & say thank you in the process for just a few

This certainly should have been expected, particularly in PC Shorewood. How the design got as far as it did w/o someone objecting is baffling.

I'd suggest replacing the entire logo with the COEXIST banner. That way you can appease the sensitive progressive nature of the Shorewood contingent while retaining the Cross (nestled in amongst various other religious and non-religious symbols) for the Messmer crowd.

Unfortunately the "drama" started when the Board (without a vote) unilaterally decided to demand action in support of a single complaint. It's a shame because this is not about "separation of church and state", which protects us from being REQUIRED to worship within a government mandated religion or being prohibited from worshipping however we choose. It's more easily explained as a clever logo on a football helmet that is designed to illustrate and pay respect to two communities coming together to create a diverse team with a common goal. One could argue that the Board's actions represent intolerance and a profound disrespect for two groups of students who designed a logo that they TOGETHER believed was a wonderful reflection of their respective schools' histories.

To me, this is a sign that Shorewood schools need to do a far better job teaching students about world religions and freedom of religion. I fear we're not preparing students for the future, and diverse workplaces, if it doesn't occur to anyone on the high school graphic design team that a religious symbol does not belong on a uniform worn by a public school student.

There's a bigger issue here than just a symbol. Is there any money coming from the Messmer side in support of team (aside from ticket and concession sales)? Shouldn't that really be considered a violation of the same magnitude?

If so, then maybe the two schools should go their separate ways. Shorewood could go back to its previous stellar program and Messmer...well, too bad, I guess. At least everyone can take comfort in having done the right thing by keeping any semblance of religious influence, regardless of how insignificant, out of the public schools.

One complaint? ONE complaint from ONE parent? Seriously?
I see it's good for for groups to COEXIST unless someONE doesn't agree, then we of course scramble to appease them until the next time!
This reminds of the midget who had a job carrying salsa & chips in his sombrero @ a restaurant ( a job he LOVED, BTW) until someONE again, decided it was unfair to 'little people' and he was left with no job and a dazed look on his face!

What a joke. As already noted, Messmer likely is providing financial support for the team. How troubling that must be for the many special people who occupy Shorewood.

The perpetually offended are exhausting.

Hi - I'm sure I'll draw fire with this one, and I must add that the logo does not need to be removed, just the cross. And, just to clarify a little - I was at the school board meeting. There were many students and parents there, there was unanimity amongst the board, and there was a bit of surprise that no one had previously noted, or noticed, the cross. Messmer and Shorewood administrations have already come to a very calm agreement that they're surprised too, and will rework the design so it does not feature a religious symbol on a public school helmet, paid for jointly by both schools. Graphics design team at Shorewood will learn from this, learning about church/state legalities, and that public money is not to be used for religious iconography, period.

I agree with CowDung! (Sorry, but typing that just looked strange..:-D )
and above the 'being PC' aspect, this is a rather unique situation, in that Messmer, as a private religious school, also has a stake in the discussion, boards aside, that THEIR identity is being compromised! ...interesting...

N. Peske-
I scrolled back over these postings and didn't see anything even close to "hatred and venom" anywhere! ¯\(°_o)/¯ Exactly what were you referring to?

Some students are offended by the religious nature of the co-branded logo. This brings up bigger issues of public - private partnerships in education. Perhaps going back to the drawing board is a learning opportunity for everyone.

And of course the Greyhound is offensive- why is the dog in front of the Messmer shield? Why not Shroremer as opposed to Messwood? How about requiring all games to be played on Sunday at 10am to ensure no one goes to church? Shouldn't someone ban 'Saint' Francis from having such a discriminatory name on their Uniforms? (hopefully they would never be on our schedule or we'd have to print that hateful word)... Finally we have a great, united winning team with players and supporters as diverse as any in the country -and some clown has to lodge a formal protest against a portion of the logo. Think they will end with removing the cross? Not hardly. Sorry Messmer, some PC board will make sure you cannot play games on a secular field. Sorry Shorewood, the days of USA Today tracking the number of consecutive losses for the team is still in our memory, but don't get to close to your teammates from West of the river. Too bad, aspiring design Students who collaborated to show unity between two schools. Nice job, Board caving in.

Typical over reaction by Shorewood.

What an absolute and utter joke of a school board. A flipping joke.

Such a huge problem for the Banana Republic of Shorewood. ONE, yes ONE dumb liberal expressing their "tolerance". Considering the area, I'm betting they would be fine with the Star of David instead.

This is not a valid issue of separation of Church and State. It is one parent that was looking for a way to be offended and a victim. The board of idiots were willing to appease this parent simply because they are not bright enough to see the bigger issues. If you accept the logo issue as legitimate, then the team would also have to go. You may as well disband the music and drama programs, they may do a play or sing a song that offends some parent, it only takes one word. Tolerance and acceptance was preached following the shooting at the Sikh Temple, how soon that was forgotten.

Shorewood is one of the most, if not the most, diverse communities in the state. There are students of many different ethnic and religious backgrounds and they should all be taken into consideration, even in the design of logos! As a non-Christian Shorewood resident, I am happy the decision was made to remove the cross. And by the way, Nuitari, glad to see that antisemitism is alive and well and living in you. Perfect example of why this decision was the right one!

As a Shorewood resident, SHS alum, and the parent of three children in Shorewood schools, I am once again amazed at the perpetually offended, incredibly tolerant ( except to Catholics ), COEXISTers here in Shorewood. I salute the student that designed the graphic and I am so sorry that the rant of one parent will negate it's appearance on the team's helmets. I love that the artist tried to capture the essence of both schools. Great idea to have 2 sided helmets! Then the COEXISTers would not have to TOLERATE the reminder of Catholicism! Better yet, how about two different logos - one for SHS and one for Messmer on the same color helmet? That way Messmer would retain it's identity.

Wish there was a "like" button so I could "like" a majority of the above posts! Yes, Shorewood residents need to get over themselves! I question our residence here on a regular basis!

BREAKING: Game is canceled this week. Shorewood has NO BALLS!

Could you imagine the civil war if this was St. Roberts?

Yes, I can imagine it! Bring it on!

What about the Greyhound on the logo?

The majority of racing greyhounds which do not make money for their owners are callously killed in a variety of horrifyingly inhumane ways. Others are neglected and starved until dead, sold to vivisectors in animal experimentation labs, beaten and left for dead, drowned, and abandoned.

So, while placating the one parent with the complaint, it appears the board has managed slap a significant number of others in the face with their decision!
Please read these quotes from Brother Bob Smith, who runs Messmer Catholic Schools.
------------------------------------------
Br. Smith says the decision "is hurtful for the kids. It's going to be hurtful for the kid who designed the logo...it's going to be hurtful for the team."
He said only once before in the team's 11-year history has someone brought up an issue about anything religious with the public-private partnership.

It came about as an agreement to combine the teams of the team from Shorewood High, a suburban, public school, and Messmer, a Catholic school with mainly central-city, minority students.

Their story has brought on national attention.

"You honestly don't see problems with racism, economic difference...once those kids put a helmet on, you don't know which kid goes to which school. You couldn't have scripted it better."

He claimed that any sort of religious activity on the team specifically came from students, and was not demanded by any authority figure connected with the team.

"The kids themselves, over all these years...have begun with a prayer, on their own, when they're in the locker room," explained Br. Smith. "Nobody has forced kids to do anything."

Taking the cross off the helmets is likened to someone asking me to remove the cross from my neck because it offends them. If the cross is removed from the helmets, then Messmer becomes no different than a Public School. What is Messmer & Shorewood and going to do when a Muslim student busts out and says, "Stop the game, "I have to pray!" Well, they can be let loose to pray, but the game still goes on. If the cross on the helmets bothers anyone, tell them to look the other way. The cross on the helmet is not forcing anyone to worship any religion in any manner. The cross as stated is an appropriate logo for the Catholic School Messmer is. ~ Geez! I'm surprised someone is not complaining they don't want to play football with catholics since this is another avenue of violation of church & state. AS OF THIS WRITING, consider this my official complaint: I am offended as a taxpayer that public funds go to Private Schools like Messmer which is a Catholic School. It is clearly a constitutional violation of church & state. Therefore, pull the voucher students from all religious schools & send them back to public schools!

The logo would never survive a court challenge so it needs to be changed before more money is wasted.

What would have happened if the Wiccan school had proposed a coop team with Shorewood? Forget that there would never have been such a team; can anyone even conceive of a helmet with a Wiccan star?

Majoritarians, if you can't admit you're wrong, at least admit that you're ignorant of the law of the land.

Long live the Supreme Court, even if they are recently too fearful of civil unrest to strike "under god" from the pledge, whose recitation is itself a ridiculously anachronistic practice.

It might be a worthwhile compromise to segregate uniform funding so that Messmer money pays for uniforms with crosses and public money pays for uniforms without crosses. Facilities, any common equipment or anything paid for with public funds cannot have religious symbols.

We must zealously keep church and state separated or history will repeat itself.

It's probably in Messmer's best interest to start searching out another partner with a football field, since you never know what PC brainfart hides just around the corner with Shorewood. Fair trade hemp uniforms, gluten free organic concessions, points redistribution when the gap between the winning and losing...er...scoring deficient...teams is too great, etc. Could get quite complicated, distracting and expensive. Not to mention just sucking all the fun out of the game.

Shorewood should just stick to soccer. Pansies.

"We must zealously keep church and state separated or history will repeat itself."??
WTH does that mean? ...another great country might be started by a bunch of displaced Christians? ...just sayin'...

The cross, on the logo, looks more like a medical cross and maybe it symbolizes that Messwood is going to send its opponents to the emergency room.

I am a die-hard advocate for church-state separation, and I think this is nonsense. The fact of the matter is that Shorewood has partnered with a Catholic school; it's not unreasonable for that school to think a logo representing the partnership would reflect its nature as well as Shorewood's. I thought the cross in the logo was understated and respectful to both schools. If there's truly a legal issue with the cross--and I don't believe that's nearly as clear cut as some commenters do--then I suspect there would also be one with the partnership itself! Thank you to that one parent and the school board for once again making Shorewood look like a neighborhood full of doofuses. Most of us are not this way--really.

As an SHS grad living far away, I have followed with great interest and delight the win-win Messwood saga.

I think that the cross needs to go. And although it's not usually my nature to get all Christian about anything, the power of the symbol of the cross just cannot, and should not, be ignored or dismissed. The cross is, of course, the very central expression of the power of Christ, and no doubt was chosen to be part of Messmer's logo for that very reason, just as the speed and agility of the greyhound was invoked as Shorewood's mascot and logo. As such, it is most definitely and profoundly a religious statement. Indeed, to claim otherwise could be regarded as something on the order of blasphemy.

This just cannot be interpreted as innocuous or incidental religious expression. Loaves and fish might be incidental. But we're talking the power of the cross here. How can this not be a First Amendment No-No?

CowDung- PLEASE! Stop being logical, okay? ¯\(°_o)/¯

A new logo for the rest of this season has been unveiled. Shorewood Patch's story: http://shorewood.patch.com/articles/messwood-unveils-new-team-logo

They should have known not to put a religious symbol on it. Religion's place is at home not in politics and schools.

" Religion's place is at home not in politics and schools."???
David, it's a Catholic high school...in partnership w/SHS...how does THAT work? ☮