My name is Braden Renke and I am in the graduating class of 2018 at Northern Valley Demarest and I am a proud Norsemen. I ask of you all reading this to help me take a stand to keep the Northern Valley Norsemen and Northern Valley Golden Knights mascots as they are. Below are all of the reasons why we as a community must not allow this to occur. First off, the cost involved would be exorbitant as the School Board would have to change every single uniform for all of both schools athletic teams, and of the facilities such as the score boards, signs, gym floors, etc. Funds could be used for more important issues that these schools have rather than wasting money and time on something that should not be considered a priority. Also who would wind up paying for this, the tax payers? Would this create a tax increase? Second, there is no copyright issue as both schools have been using these mascots for years. The Golden Knights have had the same logo as Army as stated in the article however, Army changed their logo April 14th, 2015 so that is no longer an issue. Demarest High School has been established since 1959. The Minnesota Vikings logo was completely different than ours in the '60s until they changed it in '66 and that logo looked more like ours. Many high schools around the country are called the Norsemen and have similar logos to the Vikings and they have not been sued. Brian McCarthy director of corporate communications for the NFL 2010 is quoted, "We support football on all levels and do not have an issue with high school and youth teams using NFL team logos." So the issue of copyrights should not be a concern and or the driving force behind this idea. Third, after asking residents, current students, and alumni of the schools, people really do not feel marginalized by only having "Old Tappan" or "Demarest" on their jerseys. These schools are located in these towns. In little league REC softball when I played in my town- Haworth, Demarest played for Haworth and those kids were apart of a team- nobody felt left out. People take great pride in being a Demarest Norseman and an Old Tappan Golden Knight. My mom went to Demarest and my dad went to Old Tappan and if you ask either of them, being a Norseman and a Golden Knight has become apart of them. I attend Demarest and even though I am only going into my Sophomore year, I identify with being a Demarest Norseman more than being a Haworth Hawk. The Norseman and Golden Knight become apart of who you are and that should never change. In concern of females feeling left out due to the labels of the mascots, I know for a fact that at Demarest, the sports provided to the girls call those athletes the Norsewomen. There really should not be such an issue over mascots, why fight something that has worked for years and that people put great pride into? Fourth, Demarest and Old Tappan have been rivals for the history of the two schools. It is all of the athletes' biggest desire to beat the Norsemen or the Golden Knights in games. It has become apart of the schools' culture. The two mascots and school colors label us as different and unique schools even though we are in the same district and that is a good thing. These new logos will brand us and give us basically the same logo. None of the school's athletes want to be seen as the same as the other school- we have to be better and we have to beat the other. The new branding will slowly kill out competitive spirits against each other and make the teams slowly be seen as more and more similar and less unique. Lastly, no offense to the school board but what are we supposed to call ourselves? So far all I have heard is The Flamers. I do not think the community and schools want that image at all. I really suggest that the School Board should rethink their idea and hope after you all have read this, you all will sign and help me protect the Norsemen and Golden Knights. Article link: http://www.northjersey.com/mobile/news/education/regional-board-considering-rebranding-of-school-district-1.1370829 BOE President: Louis DeLisio (mailto:delisio@nvnet.org) BOE Vice President: Maria Kim (mailto:kimmh@nvnet.org) Kathy Fable- Quinn/ Fable Marketing and BOE trustee (mailto:fable@nvnet.org) Article Author/ Staff Writer at northjersey.com and Northern Valley Subordinate- Robert Christie (christie@northjersey.com) All information about the board and their meeting dates can be found at: https://www.nvnet.org/boe/members