On July 31, 2007, the school had the controversial tree cut down. School Board member Fowler said, "There's nothing positive about that old tree. It's all negative. And I'm serving on the new School Board, and we're wanting to start fresh on some things". According to Fowler, the tree would have had to have been cut down to make way for the rebuilding of the school after the fire. Others thought that taking down the tree was not an effective way to address any problems of racism in Jena. "Cutting down that beautiful tree won't solve the problem at hand," said Caseptla Bailey, Robert Bailey's mother. "It still happened". The remains of the building have been cleared, and a bid accepted for the reconstruction.