As the Gill-Montague Regional School Committee has continued its review of the Turners Falls High School mascot, currently the Indian, part of the process was changed during this week’s committee meeting.
At Tuesday’s meeting, several members were outspoken about flaws in the process.
The original process the School Committee approved in September was halted by the committee at the meeting. This process did not include an “up or down” vote on the Indian. Instead, it proposed a system allowing the committee to create criteria for what the mascot should be. Then the public could submit proposals for potential mascots, including keeping the Indian.
This was expected to lead to a school board vote among those options submitted.
On Tuesday night, several members said that process was now ineffective given the community backlash regarding a possible change and how the process has transpired.
“This process is getting strung out, and it’s ended its useful life,” board Vice Chairwoman Sandy Brown said.
Brown presented the motion to vote next week.
What Brown and supporters proposed was an “up or down” vote on the existing use of Indians.
“I just want to move forward,” Brown said. “If we vote to keep the Indian, we don’t have to go through any more process, then it’s done. If we want to change it then we have to decide how to forward.”
This would eliminate a lot of the process if the School Committee chose to keep the “Indians” and would allow the committee to address timeline concerns.
“It just seems as if we don’t have an up or down vote next time, on whether to change the name or not change the name, this is going to go on forever,” Brown said at the meeting.
Several members were worried about having roughly 12 weeks left until May. The end of the school year has been an unofficial deadline for the process because the town election will take place and there could be changes in the makeup of the School Committee.
Tuesday night, board members said this process and the community backlash have taken a toll on their lives and families and they didn’t want new representatives to have to start the process over again, in addition to enduring harassment through social media.
Chairman Mike Langknecht, one of the two board members who voted against undoing the process, was vehement in opposition.
“We had a very clear layout of what we were going to do with that information and how we’re going to use it. What has changed?” Langknecht asked.
The process is largely up in the air right now. The group voted to undo the process but didn’t replace it on Tuesday.
When the School Committee meets in two weeks, board members could take a vote on whether to keep or change the mascot, or they could establish a new or similar process and continue.
While the committee struggles with the next step, there are other aspects of this debate that are taking place.
Turners Falls Principal Annie Leonard proposed additional units on Native American studies. This would include a total of four units in four classes between the middle and high school and would add to existing elective curriculum about Native American history and culture.
Both sides of the mascot debate have called for additional studies about Native Americans in the school, and the School Committee voted to pass the recommended curriculum changes. So one part of the public outcry has been addressed by the school and the committee.
There are more changes that go beyond the mascot issue as well.
Chris Pinardi, who runs a Facebook page dedicated to saving the Indian, attended Tuesday’s meeting and did not speak to the committee as a whole, but presented information to Langknecht about his group’s referendum.
This isn’t something the School Committee has been concerned with, because they set the tentative deadline to be early May, so the issue would be addressed before School Committee elections, where the makeup of the board could change, and new members would be forced to catch up.
Also during discussion of the possible vote next meeting, the group briefly touched on whether to fly in an additional speaker to speak on the pro-mascot side who is Native American. The School Committee had previously decided that since there had been many calls to keep the debate local, it wanted the speakers to be local as well.
Superintendent Michael Sullivan and pro-Indian advocates have been unable to find Native Americans in New England that support Native American mascots, so they expanded their search across the country. On Tuesday, no action was taken to bring in additional speakers.