Senators sponsor state bill to ban Native American mascots
ANDERSON
Modified: 2/15/2021 1:40:25 PM
Area state senators are sponsors of a bill that would prohibit public schools from using Native American mascots, logos and team names.
State Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, filed Bill SD.417 a few days ago to take up the mantle in the fight against imagery and mascots deemed insensitive to Indigenous communities. Comerford is the lead sponsor and Adam Hinds, a Pittsfield Democrat, has signed on, as have Democratic colleagues Sonia Chang-Diaz, Jack Patrick Lewis, Rebecca Rausch, Sal DiDomenico and Jason Lewis. The bill has previously been unsuccessful in legislative session.
‘Zoom bomb’ leads to changes in school meeting procedures
Published: 12/16/2020 4:40:10 PM
Modified: 12/16/2020 4:40:02 PM
ATHOL The unfortunate disruption of a remote meeting of parents and Superintendent Darcy Fernandes last week has led to some changes in how meetings held via Zoom will be held in the future. Friday’s meeting was abruptly shut down to deny those responsible for the incident an audience. At another such meeting held Monday night, Fernandes discussed the incident and the changes.
“As you are probably noticing,” Fernandes began the meeting, “we have changed our format for Zoom. We are in a situation because of the ‘Zoom-bombing’ that happened on Friday.
Athol High School: Public comment for mascot renaming project now open
ATHOL HIGH SCHOOL
Modified: 12/15/2020 4:27:20 PM
In November, members of the Athol Royalston Regional School Committee voted to retire its “Red Raiders” moniker, name and mascot. The district decided to enlist the services of HEARD Strategy & Storytelling, a marketing and communications services agency, who on social media publicly offered pro bono rebranding services to any Massachusetts high school who made the decision to change their mascot and implemented a plan prior to the end of December.
Since then, according to a press release from CEO Jack Messier, HEARD has worked with members of the Athol High School Mascot Subcommittee to engineer a strategy of compiling community input for a period of time, then distilling that data into actionable items. The public commenting period opened Dec. 14 and continues through Jan. 4. The survey can be accessed on the AHS Facebook page. Physical surveys can be
Athol High School seeks new mascot to replace ‘Red Raider’ Native American caricature
Updated Dec 15, 2020;
Posted Dec 15, 2020
Some Athol fans show up in full Red Raider attire to a game in 2010. The school is replacing he nickname and mascot. photo by J. Anthony Roberts
Facebook Share Athol High School has begun collecting ideas for a new sports brand and mascot, replacing the “Red Raider” Native American caricature the Athol Royalston Regional School Committee voted last month to scrap.
The “Red Raider” logo depicted a tomahawk-wielding cartoon figure with a big nose and spear over his shoulder.
The move away from racist depictions of Native Americans follows those at Frontier Regional School, Turners Falls High School and Mohawk Trail Regional School, as well as the Washington Redskins renaming themselves – temporarily – the Washington Football Team – and this week’s announcement that ownership of the Cleveland Indians will rename that baseball team