TURNERS FALLS — The Gill-Montague Regional School Committee has halted its review of the use of the Indian as a school mascot, with aims to create a new process that would possibly bring a vote about the issue sooner than planned.
In a 6-2 decision, the board voted to undo the previous vote that green-lighted the review. Chairman Mike Langknecht and Committee member April Reipold voted against changing the plan. Vice Chairwoman Sandy Brown pushed for the vote with Timmy Smith, both saying that a vote whether to keep the Indian should come first, ahead of the next steps in the process, which would include creating selected criteria and holding additional community forums.
“I won’t vote for it,” Langknecht said. “I think the original process took all of this into account.”
Nearly every member of the committee expressed disappointment on how the community had handled the process, and said that while the current process was created with the best of intentions, it is no longer functioning as expected. Committee member Jane Oaks said the process has become “unbelievably difficult” and did not go as expected.
“I think it’s becoming really, really difficult to stay calm and reasonable and listen intently,” Oaks said. “People are making a division in the town, and it’s sad.”
Several members were worried about what would happen if they held another forum, this one about the selection criteria.
“It scares me at this point, with the community and what has transpired,” said committee member Christina Postera.
Brown and others were also worried that the committee was running out of time, with about 12 weeks until May, when the town election could change the makeup of the school committee. Multiple committee members expressed the stress that this decision has brought into their lives and families, and didn’t want new members to have to step into the controversial issue.
Beyond that, members also stressed how much this has affected life for students at the school.
“I don’t think anyone anticipated the amount, the toll this has taken on the kids,” Member Lesley Cogswell said.
The majority of the board supported measures to expedite the process, with some wanting to set a firm deadline of May 1 to have a decision made, but what that decision would be was unclear. Some wanted to have made an up or down vote on whether to keep the Indian, and others wanted to keep the process in place and determine a new mascot at that time.
With members from both sides of what has become a heated debate attending Tuesday night’s meeting, the School Committee voted to change the process. Rhonda Anderson spoke during the public participation portion of the meeting and again called for the school to change the mascot.
“These are your kids, you’re going to be proud of them no matter what,” she said.
Chris Pinardi, one of several people who run a prominent Facebook page dedicated to saving the mascot, was also in attendance, but did not speak during the public participation portion. Pinardi has informed Langknecht of his group’s petition to get a non-binding referendum on the annual town election.
Brown and others said that wouldn’t affect the School Committee vote because the board has intentions to complete the process before the end of the current members’ terms, and the election.
Brown proposed voting whether to keep or change the mascot at the next meeting. The group decided to table the vote because it had become late in the night and members wanted a fresh perspective to think about it. Committee member Jane Oaks expressed her frustration with the current process but said the group should be prepared to come to its next meeting with the intention of making a decision about where they are in this process and where it wants to go next.
Earlier in the night, the committee also approved several curriculum changes that would incorporate more lessons on Native American history and culture into existing history classes at the middle school and the high school.
Annie Leonard, principal of Turners Falls High School, presented the changes to the curriculum and said the new units would be put together in Summer 2017.
“This would be an intentionally integrated curriculum design with a view of native history as an essential component of American history,” Leopold said.
The school would also continue to offer Native American history as an elective course.
The additions to the middle school classes would include culture, environment and archaeology. High school units would include Early Colonial period, and present issues and process.
Reach Miranda Davis at
413-772-0261 ext. 280
or mdavis@recorder.com.