SETH — Just because you read it on somebody’s Facebook, blog or in an email from a friend or relative doesn’t mean it’s true. It’s probably not, as was the case with a rumor that Sherman High School was going to change its school song and mascot.

“There is no truth to this at all,” Sherman Principal Roy “Todd” Barnett said in an exclusive interview with the Coal Valley News last week. “The school has had ‘Tide’ as the school song and the name of the mascot for a long time and it will continue to remain the same.”

The school’s logo for “Tide” is a clipper ship, which is featured in the front lawn of the school.

“It’s crazy how these false or misleading rumors can go viral on the Internet,” Barnett said. “I wish people would check the facts before creating such a controversy.”

A Facebook page was created called “Don’t Change the School Song or Mascot of Sherman High School” and immediately hundreds of Sherman alumni, current students, parents and others in the community rallied behind the effort to stop any change to the song or the mascot.

“I still get goose bumps when I hear it brings back a lot of good memories,” said Sherry Mollett.

Over 300 people went to the page to ask for school and county officials not to change the song or the mascot.

Barnett said that some saxophone harmonies were added to the song, but nothing was changed.

“We wouldn’t even think of changing the song or the mascot,” he said. “It’s ‘Tide’ and will always be ‘Tide.’”

Creators of the Facebook page have said they would take it down since it was verified to be just a rumor, but they have been encourage by others to keep it and maybe change the name.

“It would make a good Sherman sports page or something along those lines,” said Shannon Burgess.