TURNERS FALLS — As discussion continues on the Turners Falls High School mascot, should Gill-Montague Regional School Committee consider last spring’s “Indians” referendum — or discuss the ballot question at all?
After wrangling over the issue this week, the board has put off deciding whether to hear from an Indians supporter who wanted to be placed on the board’s agenda to discuss the referendum, which backed retaining the Indians.
Parent and pro-mascot advocate Chris Pinardi made a formal request to the board through its online system to be on the committee’s next meeting agenda.
The committee decided in February to replace the Indians mascot with something else, which the board is in the process of selecting.
At Tuesday’s board meeting, Timmie Smith, chairwoman of the committee, said normally she decides what items to put on the agenda. However, she said that in this case, she didn’t feel comfortable making that decision by herself and asked for a vote of the board.
She said given where they are in the process, and that the referendum was nonbinding, she would choose not to put Pinardi on the agenda.
Smith said she wanted a directive from the board to put him on the agenda.
“If I make that decision, you know what it’s going to be,” Smith said.
Former committee Chairman Michael Langknecht suggested tabling the matter because three members were not at the meeting. The board eventually chose to do that.
New Montague commitee member Shawn Hubert said the board should put Pinardi on the agenda because some in the community feel they haven’t been heard.
“Anytime you’re trying to mute anybody’s voice it’s not a good thing,” Hubert said.
He said it would be beneficial to say publicly whether the board plans to respond to the referendum at all.
“… at some point we have to answer the question one way or another,” Hubert said.
Whether the community had been heard is something Gill representative Jane Oakes pushed back on.
“I think there’s a difference between not being heard and not getting the result you want,” she said. “I think that’s where the issue lies.”
Oakes said she reached out to the Montague town clerk on Monday and did the math, because they’ve heard from a lot of people that 75 percent of the town supports keeping the mascot. She disputed that number because 32 percent of the town’s voters voted, meaning that 75 percent of 32 percent shows that 24 percent of the registered voters in town supported the Indians mascot.
“We can’t assume we know how the other townspeople feel,” Oakes said.
Heather Katsoulis, a Montague representative, was fine with putting Pinardi on the agenda but agreed with Oakes that it’s not accurate to say 75 percent of the town wanted to keep it or that the school committee didn’t listen to some people.
“We offered ample time to speak; we heard so much,” she said.
The committee held two open public forums and four educational forums and welcomed emails on the subject.
The meeting became tense when Hubert disputed the numbers, call it “prorating” the election and referring to Oakes remarks as “spin.”
“There is no spin. I’m a mathematician. There are numbers,” Katsoulis said. “1,200 people voted yes, we have 8,000 people, that is 16 percent of our population. Most of it did not care enough to vote.”
Reach Miranda Davis at 413-772-0261, ext. 280 or mdavis@recorder.com.