Danville School officials have agreed to scrap the school’s mascot, the Indians, after months of debate about the culturally offensive name.
The decision came Tuesday, when school board members voted 4-1 to approve a policy barring the school from using “any race or ethnic group and its traditions or customs” as a mascot, name or nickname.
Board member and clerk Robert Edgar, who drafted the policy, confirmed the vote count Wednesday.
Any image or name representing the school “shall respect cultural differences and values and shall be neither derogatory nor discriminatory,” the new policy says.
The policy went into effect immediately. But the policy noted that, with the board’s consent, the school could keep using current uniforms and other items prohibited by the policy for the “normal school lifetime” of the items.
The board’s vice chair, David Towle, cast the sole no vote.
Debates in Danville about the school mascot have gone on for decades. But in recent months, there had been a broad-reaching call to retire the symbol.
Students, teachers, staff and alumni urged the board at a meeting March 3 to abandon the mascot, and none of the dozens of people attending the virtual meeting opposed the move. Almost all of the more than 60 letters written to the board ahead of that meeting supported a change, and none explicitly opposed the idea.
Supporters of a name change said the mascot perpetuated stereotypes about Native Americans, depicted historical inaccuracies and isolated Native American students.
In the weeks after the meeting, though, the board received dozens more letters, many of them urging officials to reject requests to change the name. Opponents of a change cited pride in their school’s history; several expressed frustration with “cancel culture” and political correctness.
And more than 120 people signed a petition to the board, posted to its website the same day as the deciding meeting, asking officials not to change the school’s mascot.
But the movement to retire the name prevailed Tuesday.
“I wouldn’t have done this 20 years ago; I probably would have voted no,” chair Bruce Melendy said before casting his vote, according to the Caledonian Record. “I’m not in favor of a lot of the political correctness that’s going on, but this is something that probably needs to change.”
The policy says the board will initiate a process to name a new mascot.
The school principal will form a committee to do so, with members including the principal, at least one middle or high school student, a school counselor, one faculty member, a parent or caretaker, and a member of the Danville Selectboard, if one agrees to serve.
Any person in the school community or town, including alumni, will be able to propose a new mascot for the school.
“The committee shall design a fair, stakeholder-representative selection process,” the policy says. “The result of this process shall be communicated to the superintendent for approval and, if approved, communicated to the board. The board’s role is solely to approve of the selection if the requirements of this policy have been met.”
The call to change the mascot — which was adopted in the 20th century — is one of several that emerged statewide in the last year as communities question whether their school symbols promote harmful ideas. Rutland school board members voted in September to retire the high school’s team name, the Raiders, along with its arrowhead imagery.
