rally discussion , copied and pasted newspaper article.
Raven discussion rises at rally
By Keith Whitcomb Jr. Staff Writer 22 hrs ago 0
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What Rutland City Schools new Ravens’ mascot will look like hasn’t been decided yet. Two possibilities adorned T-shirts and banners at a gathering at Center Street Marketplace Park on Monday evening, where supporters of the new mascot celebrated the change and sought to engage the community about what it means.
“Basically, we are going to be talking to the community about the new Ravens mascot and how it connects with them personally and the community in general,” said Ingrid Solsaa, a senior at Rutland High School where a contentious debate over the mascot being changed has been brewing since October.
Two designs were being shown at the celebration. One, designed by student Emelia McCalla features a raven inside the letter R with the wing forming the letter’s tail. The other — the word Ravens — with the V being formed by a pair of wings, designed by Jon Marro, a Rutland High alumnus.
“The administration and the School Board seems to be pretty divided, so a lot of the students and a lot of the administration are on different pages,” said Rutland High Senior McKenna Sorenson. “This event is trying to pull that polarizing politics away and celebrate.”
Looking past politics and asking the students what they want is critical to moving forward, said Rutland High School Senior Giovanni Falco, who co-planned the event with the help of RHS social studies teacher, Jennie Gartner, and mentor Scott McCalla.
According to Falco, the debate surrounding the mascot change, while student-led, got less productive once adults were involved.
“I think part of the problem, from the beginning, is adults kind of took this from zero to 100 and kind of blew it way out of proportion, and are kind of suffocating students’ voices by having those arguments and not including the students in the discussion,” he said. “From the beginning, I think that was one of the worst decisions the adults could have made.”
He said the debate has led to division within the school. “However I do feel a majority of students recognize that there is a problem with our old mascot. How that looks moving forward, I’m not sure if we’ll come to a complete understanding or agreement, but we recognize as students that we need to create an environment that’s welcoming to all.”
Food, drinks, music, cornhole, and someone dressed as raven were all featured at the evening celebration.
“From the beginning this process has been divisive and political, however I believe this decision to get rid of the racist mascot was not a political one,” said Falco, delivering some prepared remarks. He added that during the debate, people have been using the perceived politics of others as points of criticism.
“Even I’ve been called, and you can laugh, ‘a brainwashed liberal crony,’” the student said. “Caring for all people in our community should not be a liberal idea. Republicans and conservatives as well as liberals and Democrats, and all people of all political ideologies, should want to be part of making an inclusive, welcoming place for all.”
He said change is hard, but needs to happen if Rutland is to grow.
“So let’s show the Rutland City Public School Board, the Board of Aldermen, the Rutland community, and the state of Vermont, that we are done watching certain adults in our lives treat each other with disrespect,” he said. “We see the lack of leadership from certain board members, and a complete disregard for professionalism. However, these individuals have taught us one thing, how not to have a civilized debate.”
A few local politicians made remarks at the event, as well.
House Rep. William Notte, D-Rutland City, said the city has changed a great deal since he graduated from Rutland High School in 1989.
“During my time as a city alderman and as a state representative I’ve repeatedly said that if we imagine what Rutland should be, we can’t look in the rearview mirror at what it was, we have to look forward to what it should be,” he said.
Notte’s wife, Alison Notte, is a member of the Rutland City School Board.
Alderman Devon Neary also spoke, stating communities and boards function better when its members think in terms of “we” rather than “us versus them.”
State Sen. Cheryl Hooker, D/P-Rutland, thanked the group for pointing the way to the future.
“We hear a lot of talk about returning to normal,” said Hooker, alluding the global coronavirus pandemic. “I don’t think we can return. The normal that we are going to need will be a different normal for each of us and we’re moving forward, not returning. We are moving forward to a new normal that will be different for those of you going off to school, those of you that are staying here to work on issues within our community, and I want you to know that Rutland will always be your home and that you can always come back and you’ll always be welcome.”
In early May, about 15 people attended a School Board meeting via Zoom to voice support for the Raven mascot, and the removal of the Raider name and arrowhead image. The topic wasn’t on the agenda.
A special meeting is tentatively scheduled for June 22.
The Rutland Area NAACP, Rights and Democracy, and the Peace and Justice Center, have called on the board to not bring back the old mascot and associated imagery. They’ve also said that if the board does go back, they will encourage other school districts in the state to no longer interact with Rutland City School District through extracurricular activities.
At the May meeting, after much discussion, Board Chairman Hurley Cavacas created an ad hoc committee to discuss the mascot issue. This triggered another debate with some board members wanting a committee of the whole as opposed to an ad hoc committee.
In October 2020, the board voted to stop using the Raider name and arrowhead logo. The vote was 6-4, and in March several new people were elected to the board who were in favor of the old name. In April, Commissioner Stephanie Stoodley motioned to reinstate the old mascot and arrowhead image, but Cavacas claimed the Raven name wasn’t adopted properly to begin with.
keith.whitcomb
@rutlandherald.com
keith.whitcomb@rutlandherald.com