Description
Allen Central High School (Allen Central, Central, or ACHS) was a Title I American high school located in Eastern, Floyd County, Kentucky, United States, and was one of four public high schools in the Floyd County School system.
In 2014, plans were made to consolidate Allen Central and South Floyd High School into a new Floyd Central High School, located near the Allen Central campus.
The school displayed symbols of the Confederate States of America. A Confederate flag was displayed in the school gymnasium as recently as January 2007, and the school mascot is a Confederate soldier who, as of late 2006, appeared on a sign at the entrance to the school. A nearby courtyard has blue brick forming the Cross of St. Andrew, and a mural in the lobby shows a rebel soldier carrying the flag on horseback. Other images of rebel soldiers and Confederate flags covered the same walls. The images stoked controversy, since many considered them to be racist symbols, whether in Floyd County, in Kentucky, and elsewhere, although there was also support in the county for retaining the symbols.
Allen Central adopted the school flag and mascot in 1972, when four other schools were consolidated to form the high school. Students formed a committee and chose the mascot. The four previous schools and their mascots were the Maytown Wildcats, the Garrett Black Devils, the Wayland Wasps and the Martin Purple Flash.
"The welcome sign at Allen Central High School is home to a grinning Confederate soldier, proudly waving a banner bearing the St. Andrew's cross of the Confederate battle flag. The courtyard nearby is composed of blue brick that forms the cross and a mural in the lobby pays homage to another rebel soldier, this one carrying the flag on horseback.
More rebel soldiers and Confederate flags cover the same walls that hold posters touting academic achievement, fundraising drives and notable attendance of the all-white student body." - The Associated Press December 09, 2006