MONTAGUE — The three candidates who won in Monday’s Gill-Montague Regional School Committee elections were all endorsed by supporters of retaining the Turners Falls High School’s mascot, the Indians.
School Committee Chairman Mike Langknecht and vice chairwoman Sandy Brown were ousted by voters Monday following the annual election.
Shawn Hubert won Brown’s seat from Gill, 1,050 to 821, and Cassie Damkoehler beat out Langknecht for one of two Montague seats. Incumbent April Reipold held onto her seat. Reipold received the most votes with 1,131, Damkoehler received 1,091 and Langknecht got 902 votes. Voter turnout on Monday was 32 percent in Montague.
The three victorious candidates were endorsed by a group called “Save the TF Indians logo,” which has been advocating for the School Committee to restore the former mascot of the high school, which the committee eliminated in February.
The town also voted overwhelmingly in favor of keeping the former mascot, the Indians, on the nonbinding referendum.
The question, which asked voters to retain the school’s mascot while changing the image to match that of the Native Americans in the area, was approved with 1,233 voting “yes,” 432 voting “no,” and 238 leaving the question blank.
Chris Pinardi, one of the leaders of the “Save the TF Indians logo” group, said the results from the election are not surprising.
“This is just the first step in reminding each and every one of them that they are elected to represent the will of the people and not their own personal agendas,” Pinardi said. “If they truly wish to begin the healing process, they should start by respecting the results of the ballot question and work with the community to fulfill their wishes.”
Those who wanted to change the mascot had called for a boycott of the question ahead of the vote.
Bob Mahler, one of the organizers for “Community members concerned for civil rights” said the intent of the boycott was to support the School Committee’s decision.
“I think the next step is for everyone to come together to try to work with the school committee to come up with a new mascot,” he said.
Mahler said he did not support the vandalism and theft of the yard signs support the former mascot and that it was not coordinated by the group. He noted that the School Committee may be different with new members, but said he’s hopeful residents on all sides of the issue can come together.
“A peaceful solution and ending to this would be great,” he said. “It’s a way to show our kids how to resolve issues.”
Although it appears that the board majority still supports changing the mascot, it’s unclear what, if anything, the new School Committee will do with the vote and changes to the board.
While Langknecht had been one of the “no” votes for changing the mascot on Feb. 14, Brown voted “yes” in the 6 to 3 decision to drop the Indians.
Brown said on Tuesday she was disappointed with the results, but wished Hubert good luck on the committee.
Damkoehler said she was excited and ready to get to work.
“I’m excited to work with the current members of the school committee and figure out ways to keep improving our district,” she said.
Langknecht was not immediately available for comment Tuesday afternoon.
The new School Committee met Tuesday night for the annual reorganization meeting.
The committee selected Timmie Smith and Jane Oakes as the chairwoman and vice chairwoman, respectively, on Tuesday night.
Smith welcomed new members Hubert and Damkoehler and thanked former members Langknecht and Brown for their service.
“I’d like to thank both Sandy and Mike for their many, many years of service to the children in our district,” Smith said.
Smith and Oakes were both selected unanimously by the committee.
“I think our council is fairly young, and I know that being on the committee only years that there’s a lot of knowledge and past history that’s important,” Committee member Christina Postera said after nominating Smith.
“I don’t know how I’m going to feel about this down the road,” Smith joked.
The committee also unanimously appointed April Reipold secretary and Postera as assistant treasurer.
The committee also re-established subcommittees on warrants, policy and negotiations.
Reach Miranda Davis at
413-772-0261, ext. 280
or mdavis@recorder.com.