The state Senate gave preliminary approval Thursday to S.139, a bill that would prohibit school mascots that stereotype a race, gender or sexual orientation. The bill passed by voice vote.
The bill was first introduced just days after the Rutland School Board reinstated Rutland High School’s controversial former mascot, the Rutland Raiders.
The bill directs the Agency of Education to develop a model “school branding policy” by Aug. 1. The policy would prohibit school branding that references or stereotypes the likeness or symbols of a race, creed, color, national origin, sexual orientation or gender identity.
It also would ban school branding that references “any person, group of persons, or organization associated with the repression of others.”
As Sen. Brian Campion, D-Bennington, presented the bill on the floor, he compared it to clashes over other cultural symbols, such as monuments, curricula and place names.
“We need to take a position on what kind of culture we are creating in this country and in this state, and this is an important step in creating a safe and welcoming one,” Campion said.
Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, D-Chittenden, spoke in support of the bill, describing it as both a step toward inclusion and a financial protection for schools.
“We have had school districts that have changed a mascot, changed it back, spent money on elections, materials, scoreboards, things that are related to their athletic events,” Ram Hinsdale said. “That has … caused heartache and pain for many, but it has also affected the bottom line of our schools and school districts.”
In Rutland, before the school board reversed course on the high school’s mascot, school officials estimated it could cost about $184,000 to rebrand team uniforms, sporting equipment and buildings.
Sen. Joshua Terenzini, R-Rutland, was the lone “no” vote when the bill left the Senate Education Committee. He stood on the floor to explain his opposition, saying he did not support anything that “would be discriminatory or demeaning to any group or organization.”
Terenzini said he believed school mascots should remain a local issue.
“I did not feel that this bill should monopolize as much time as it had, respectfully, in our committee, as we have so many other items on the board that we could have addressed,” he said.
Under this bill, after the Agency of Education develops a model policy, local school boards would be required to adopt a similar nondiscrimination rule “at least as comprehensive.” If a school board does not take up its own school branding policy, it “shall be presumed to have adopted” the agency’s version.
Other senators stood to inquire if their local school mascots would remain under this policy: What about the St. Albans Comets and Bobwhites? Or the Lyndon Institute Vikings?
But Campion deflected any questions about particular schools.
“As a committee, we could not sit there and go, as you can imagine, through every single mascot,” he said.
