TURNERS FALLS — Being non-discriminatory and relevant to the community are among possible criteria for the new Turners Falls High School mascot.
The Gill-Montague Regional School Committee spent Tuesday night brainstorming those criteria and others as they begin the process of selecting a new mascot for the high school. The criteria will be presented during the next board meeting.
The committee drafted six criteria, also recommending that the mascot is inclusive, gender neutral, marketable and reflects the school’s core values.
The hour-and-a-half discussion was facilitated by district Superintendent Michael Sullivan, who had the board members write possible criteria on sticky notes and then organize them into groups to develop broad options for possible criteria.
The meeting also touched on other issues surrounding the mascot. Sullivan presented a document to the committee with three main goals: to select criteria, to decide who will play what roles in the process, and to develop a process.
Committee member Christina Postera said there are a lot of additional issues for the committee to sort through. Postera said she looked at Amherst College, which had supplemental materials and a frequently asked questions section posted to its website.
“To be open and transparent we need to give the public more than our meetings,” Postera said.
Alana Martineau, a parent, attended the meeting and asked what the board plans to do next.
“What’s next and what input do you want from the community?” she asked.
The committee had asked the community to send criteria ideas ahead of Tuesday’s meeting. School Committee Chairman Mike Langknecht said the board has this item on the agenda for next week, but does not have a clear path forward at this time.
“The community is certainly invited to be in attendance next week,” he said.
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