On Feb. 8, the San Benito High School District Board of Trustees is scheduled to discuss potentially changing the school’s name to Hollister High School. The district meetings are held in person at the school library at 7 p.m. and are not recorded by the district.
The staff report states that the district is considering a name change as it plans to build a second high school.
According to the staff report included in the agenda, the presentation “reflects the interchangeable names of the high school throughout history.”
A timeline included in the report states that the high school was first established in 1895 as San Benito County High School. The name was changed in 1963 to San Benito Union High School and a year later to San Benito Joint Union High. The timeline then states that sometime in the 1980s or 1990s it became San Benito Union High School again. The timeline did not provide a date when the name was changed to San Benito High School.
The presentation states that the high school was referred to as Hollister High School as early as 1898 and includes 55 pages of photographs of different organizations using both names, including one where students in 1905 hold an “H.H.S.” banner.
In one instance, a 1945-46 yearbook uses both names in a page that is about coaches Andy Hardin and Don Edwards.
Making things even less clear, the presentation states that the 1945-46 band was listed as Hollister-San Benito County High School. The photograph used in that slide includes the band posing with a drum that has “San Benito County” on top, “Hollister” in the center and “High School” in the bottom.
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