Montague voters overwhelmingly voted 3-1 to reject outside interpretations of their school logo as “disrespectful” and a violation of civil rights of Native Americans.
The referendum results sent a loud and clear message to the school committee. This group agreed to approach this logo change with input from all potentially impacted stakeholders, including taxpayers, students and school alumni. They developed a process including various surveys and a non-binding ballot referendum. Many were not happy, but thought that the process could work.
On Feb. 14, after being hijacked by many nonresidents who were paid $2,200 from school funds, the school committee abandoned the process. They voted to change the logo before the town referendum and the very day before the student survey was to take place. Upset residents mobilized to send a loud and clear message that we expect our school committee to truly represent the views of the community and to follow the process that all agreed would be the best way to approach this issue.
Many lifelong residents are staunch supporters of our schools and school traditions. As most people in town know, including many with native heritage, the logo name truly incorporates the history of our natives into our daily culture. We are not going to wipe out their presence in our area because seven people, heavily influenced by nonresidents, incorrectly decided that our name and logo are racist and in violation of civil rights. The town vote replaced the chair and vice chair with new members who plan to shift the focus from politically correct social programming back to academics and proper budget management where it belongs.
There is a lot of work to be done in this regard. Let’s hope the new committee gets the message.
Rachel Roy
Montague