 So we have figured out that we can open this hearing and and proceed with the hearing. We will not be able to deliberate as a board and make a decision tonight because we do not have a full quorum but we can revisit that. So we are going to go ahead and conduct the hearing and then the policy that we're working under anyway gives us 45 days to come up with a decision and get it back to the complainants. So I am calling this meeting to order at 6.39. The purpose of this this hearing is to hear the complaint from the NAACP of Rutland and the Gadokina regarding the Randolph Union Middle and High School mascot image and name. This complaint is being brought in accordance with the Orange Southwest School District non-instructional operations policy F2 school mascot and branding. This is a policy required by the state of Vermont. The policy can be found on the OSE website under policies and procedures. The policy prop or the process for this hearing will be as follows. The spokespersons for the NAACP of Rutland and Gadokina will be asked to explain their complaint to the board. The board will then have the opportunity to ask questions regarding the complaint. Once the board has received the information that it needs, there will be an opportunity for the board to hear public comment. The process for public comment will be the same as it is when the board has its regular meetings. I will review that process before we begin public comment. At 7.30 the board will either make a motion to extend the time for public comment or to enter executive session to deliberate. The board will provide a written response to the complainants within 45 days of this hearing as required by policy. Are there any questions regarding the process for this hearing? Board members? General public? Because at least we can get that part done and then we can come back to it so that we can move forward. The board members can hear but they can't vote. So you are correct. It sounds like we won't be going into executive session. We'll have to hold off on the executive session once everyone is sworn in and we have that opportunity so we'll have to do that at another time. Not during the executive session. The executive session is just so there will be public comment after we hear. So we've arranged this hearing quite a while in advance so that we can hear from the complainants. So this is their opportunity to give us a presentation of their complaint. And public comment will be after that. Going to get together with more board, you would make a decision and get back to the NAACP within 45 days. Correct. At that point, before you get back to them, will the public be able to have input on this again? No, I would say not. So the board members that aren't here can will be using ORCA and we will be informing them as well with what we heard. We have a quorum here. It's just the two are not sworn in. So they will be here for all the public comment and will be here for the presentations. Again, just to try to help a little bit. So again, it's an unusual circumstance and I think people are trying to move forward. Given that unusual circumstance within the bounds of what we're able to do. Please recognize that two of the board members who are not currently sworn in because the vote was just yesterday are here with us tonight. Are here for the discussion. They can actually ask questions or make comment from the floor like anyone else. So they will be able to partake in everything that happens here tonight. They just couldn't vote or comment as a board member yet. But they will have the full exposure that all the other board members will have from tonight's meeting. Five. And we have four. We have six. Myself, Chelsea Sprague, who is online, Rachel Gatiss and Koucha Evans. And we have our two board members who've been voted in. Hannah Reyes and Sam Hooper. But they haven't been sworn in yet. I'll explain sort of how that works. So basically we're going to hear the complaint and then we're going to hear from the public. And then at a later date when everyone is sworn in, we'll have an executive session and come up with a response. This is to respond to a complaint. No, no, this is to respond to this particular complaint. We have to follow the policy and the policy says that the board needs to hear the complaint and then respond within 45 days. And who swears them in? Is it a justice of the peace? The town clerk, as far as we know. Yeah, as far as we know. Yes. Okay. So we are going to move forward. So where was I in all of this? Had I gone through? I went through everything. Okay. So, Grace, right, we were checking in on questions. So I would like to ask the spokesperson for the NAACP of Rutland to present their complaint to the board. Are they, they were going to show up online? Are they here? Thank you. Is there someone in the audience who is here to speak on behalf of the NAACP of Rutland? Is there anybody here? Okay. Is the spokesperson from Gattakina here? Or online? If you're online, please put your hand up in the chat box. Okay. Is there someone in the audience that's come in person? So there's no one here. So there is no one here to present the complaint to the OSD board regarding the mascot name and image. Seeing that the complainants are not here to present, I would like to ask the board for a motion to adjourn this hearing. The purpose of this meeting was to hear the complaint. Can we read the written complaint? Yeah. Okay. Do you need to open it? Yeah. So the policy, however, is that they need to be, they need to hear before the hearing is heard. So it, yes? I have a question. If, when you record on something, if the complaint does not show up, the whole thing should be dismissed, there should be a non-issue. Right. Well, that's how I'm concerned. Seeing that you have a number of people who obviously feel very strongly, and unfortunately considering who the complaint was filed by, you may not go quietly into the night. And I think considering everyone took time out of their schedule to the school board, should it please allow everybody who came here to speak on the subject to have your say? What's the point? Well, it's not quite that. Because if they contact these people without anybody knowing it, at least everyone here gets to say what they came some time out of their day to say, and the board moving forward will understand what the majority of people feel and what's said about the fact. So if it does come up again, we have a starting, instead of starting all over, we've already established that the majority feels this way, and it's a good public field, and we'll alone argue. And everybody came here, and they obviously feel passionately about it. They should speak to the board, so the board understands where people are coming from. So moving forward on issues like this, they're the commonality. I'm looking at the policy. To appear before. Yeah. I understand you think you can't. Yeah. So I'm going to interrupt. I'm reading right from the policy that we need to follow, and it says in terms of complaints, an individual may request an opportunity to appear before the board for the purposes of presenting the complaint, relevant facts, and further explanations. The board shall hear the complaint in a fair and just manner. We've set ourselves up here to do that. The folks who have brought the complaint have not arrived. We have not heard from them. I have a question. Do you have a written complaint? Yes. They sent a letter, and it was sent out to you. We should be able to respond. Didn't we hear it? But that's not what the policy says. That isn't the procedure for hearing the complaint. They send a letter, and then we provide a hearing for them to show up. And they did not show up. So yes, they've known for several weeks. That's their choice. The board actually requested accommodations to be here tonight, one of which was the meeting was going to be in person. They requested to be able to do this through remote session, which we allowed that accommodation for. So yes, they were well informed, and we were making changes to try to be accommodating to them as a district. I think we've met all their requirements. Yes. According to our, we are following policy, which is what we have to do as the governing body. You can at least read it. And let us know what the complaint is. The complaint, well, the complaint is irrelevant now, because they didn't show up. Have you tried contacting them? I have a question. We could send them. We can email them back. Someone had a question. A question back here. So I came all the way from North Carolina, but they didn't come down the street. But so are you guys going to do this all over again? Or is it done? I think that's why everyone's confused. It's a confusing situation. It's a confusing situation for us as well. So we are trying to follow the policy. The policy is that the complainants come before the board and explain their complaint. They're not in the audience. They're not online. So therefore you should give the people that are here to express their feelings. Well, they shouldn't, you dummies. Well, hold on. So what I'd like to do is adjourn this hearing. We aren't having a hearing anymore. The complainants are not here. So what we could do is we could, we will adjourn the hearing because the hearing is not taking place. The complainants are not here. And we can have an open forum where people can express their feelings. Sure, we could read the complaint. No, it would not be a meeting because the purpose of our meeting as a board tonight was to do a hearing. So they're not here. So we are adjourning that purpose of the meeting together. It sounds like folks would like to share, express, they've all arrived to express their opinions about the mascot and the name. We can transition over to an open forum where folks can just talk. It won't be a board meeting. It will just be a community meeting where people can share their views about the mascot and the name. Does that seem... Yes. Yes, yes. We have a policy that has to be followed. Are you prepared to dismiss the complaint right now? Well, I need to have the board actually vote to end this hearing. We can adjourn without... We cannot vote to dismiss the complaint without a forum. So we have to wait until we have a forum to dismiss the complaint. Right. Are you prepared to do that because they didn't show up? Yes. Yes. Good. I can read it. Okay. Can I have a motion to adjourn the hearing? I moved to adjourn the hearing. We have a second. Okay. All those in favor? We don't have to vote. We don't have to vote. Okay. So we have adjourned the hearing and we are no longer worrying about having a quorum or this is not an official board meeting, but it sounds like there are a lot of folks here who would like to come up to the mic perhaps and express their views on or their feelings about the mascot. But before we do that, perhaps Mr. Millington can let folks know sort of where we are in the mascot situation. About reading the complaint. Oh, and he could read the complaint. I'm happy to... Here. It'll take probably three or four minutes to read through. What I was not going to read as part of it, if that is all right, is they filed a collective complaint against eight schools around the state. I will read the part that they spoke of in terms of Randolph High School, if that makes sense. Folks want to hear the other ones. I'm happy to do that as well, if that's the time that it takes. Right. So to the Vermont Agency of Education, Secretary Daniel M. French, the undersigned are writing on behalf of ourselves as people who are and who represent organizations in support of indigenous natives of Vermont, as well as national civil rights organization. Mascots are an issue that is often avoided by schools because of controversy and reaped in a fallacy of historic tradition. School boards listen to stories of, it's our legacy, it's always been, it's our history, with little to no understanding that this legacy is painful and offensive to too many. It's not a positive memory for anyone, everyone. According to the Oxford Dictionary, mascot means a person or thing supposed to bring good luck or used to symbolize a particular event or organization. According to Miriam Webster, it means a person, animal or object adopted by a group as a symbolic figure, especially to bring them good luck. With this in mind, it is denigrating to be used as a symbol of good luck, especially for peoples who have been long subjected to violence because of their racial and ethnic identity. We are at a point in time where we must remove this symbolism in order to remove the legacy of white supremacy which harms all students and people. There is another argument that using the names and symbols that are connected to natives is actually honoring them, but in fact it is actually objectifying them. An example would be when an opposing team is getting ready to compete against one of the schools with these mascots, they often burn their mascot and effigy during bonfire pet rallies. The National Congress of American Indians and over 1,500 national native organizations and advocates have called for a ban on all native imagery, names and other appropriations of native culture and sports. The joint letter includes over 100 native-led organizations as well as tribal leaders and members of over 150. Federally recognized tribes reflecting their consensus that native mascots are harmful. Deb Harland approved in March 2021 as the first Indigenous Secretary of the Interior has long advocated for teams to change Native American mascots. Below is a comprehensive list of mascots that we have identified to be using mascots' names and or imagery which will be recognized as upholding harmful legacies that continue to harm our children. We are submitting this letter to formally file a complaint against the following schools as part of Act 152, an act relating to non-discriminatory school branding. I'll read the names of the schools and then I'll read their specific complaint relative to Randolph Union High School. So, Missisgoy High School in Swanton is one, Vermont Commons in South Burlington, Brattleboro Union High School in Brattleboro, Leland and Gray Union Middle and High School in Townsend, Randolph Union High School in Randolph, and U32 in Stowe, as well as Green Mountain in Chester. In terms of Randolph Union High School, they write, the begalloping ghosts of Randolph recently tried to repaint the clear image of a KKK rider and make it into something more ghostly. Legacy is strong here, history is strong here, this change will not change history. The painful reminder of the KKK will forever be with us, a story of a long-standing African-American Vermont legislator recently told me he was going to a basketball game to play the kids from Randolph upon entering the gym and seeing the galloping KKK ghost. He was frightened, he froze, he could not play, he could not concentrate and to this day he remembers those terrible feelings. Once again, there is a deep legacy attached to this image newly painted or not. The image and name must go. Let's see. They conclude by saying, we live in a world where school shootings occur regularly, black and brown people are regularly recorded on the news as being killed by in places of worship and grocery stores. How can we continue to promote violence in our schools by having a mascot called the Bullets, the Rangers, the Minutemen, the Marauders, the Patriots? We live in a state where we are encouraging new arrivals daily. Schools are the deciding factor in where they settle often. If your child has come from a war-torn country, would you want them attending a school with a mascot called the Bullets? Violence promoted symbolically surely encourages violence to happen in real life and it has a delirious effect on all people. During the insurrection that occurred on January 6th, people destroyed, killed and maimed, people protecting their capital and many of them called themselves the Patriots. Furthermore, there are organizations that exist in Vermont who are confirmed hate groups by national law enforcement officials who label themselves as the Patriot Front. They have been known to litter our state and in particular our universities with hateful propaganda. At the southern border, there are groups of vigilantes who harm and sometimes cause violence specifically to people seeking asylum. They call themselves Minutemen. These so-called Patriots and Minutemen are the very people that took our land in life ways. Patriots and Minutemen in today's world signify fighting war and violence. We are urging you to consider each of the statements above as we are officially filing complaints with the full approval of our organizations. We are available to discuss any of these issues with you to go more in depth. We are certain Vermont can do better and lead the nation in becoming a safe and welcoming environment for all people, whether we are white, brown or black, and whether we are new immigrants or the original caretakers of this land, we all desire to have safe, happy, healthy communities and children free from imagery and names that perpetuate harm. Isn't this what you would want for your children and your grandchildren? Sincerely, Judy Dow and Mia Schultz. So we'll run this like we would our public comment even though, again, this is not an official, this is just an opportunity open forum for folks to express their views. So we'll have folks come up for three minutes. Can we just sit here? Well, just like us up here at the table, it's probably easier for everyone to hear you if you come up to the mic. From the microphone, yes. Are you able to comment if you are online? Will you be reading online comments? We're not reading comments, but if we can hear you and we can put this mic over near the owl and it will pick your voice up. Because you came across very loudly. You're going to need to put hands up if you are online so that we can see that you would like to comment. So if folks, I'm sorry, it's really hard to see people. That's why I keep putting my hand up on my... If you want to just come up one at a time to the microphone and it would be helpful if you would just say your name just so folks know who you are. Being online, it's hard to see if anyone is coming up. Would I be jumping the line? Yes, you would be jumping the line. We'll let folks who are online know because it is hard to see. Is it? Sweetwater? This is my kiss in it. I didn't turn on the house lights. It has not been possible. We need to do some massive renovations in this space. So are you ready? If you're ready, I'm ready. Cool. My name is Dylan Smith. I grew up here. I live in Charlotte, North Carolina now. I mean, I had a lot to say because I was really curious to hear what the complaint was and everything. Obviously, that's a little different, but I do want to at least say this, that for me, when I was here, our mascot was so unique. It was unique to us. It was unique for our school and our town and the kids and the people in our town. When I was here, we went through a lot. We had a lot of loss from our school. A lot of kids were lost while we were here. There was something about this mascot that just kind of brought it together for us. We always were able to rally together because we were different. I think that was part of the mascot. It was just so unique to everybody else's. When we were at events, it was we believe in ghosts. It's not... I understand why people feel the way they do. Times have changed and I get that. But even right here, the Justin Morgan horse is right there. I think us being galloping ghosts means a lot to a lot of people. I feel like a lot of people in this community have been here their whole lives. They've never left. This has been a part of their life and changing that. Even for me, I don't know if I'd be connected to coming back. I've never missed a basketball season. I don't think yet, Jeremy. I don't think I've missed a basketball season since I graduated in 2010. But if everything changed, then I'm not connected to here anymore. When I'm around and where I am, all over the country, people are like, where are you from? And proudly I say, Vermont. And then I say, Randolph. And they're like, wow, never met anyone from Vermont before. I'm like, I dance here. Damn sure you haven't met a black person from Vermont before. And then they laugh. They laugh at my population by leaving. So they keep calling me to come back. And they laugh at one. But it's center pride. I love being from here because of this community. And nobody here has ever made me feel like I didn't belong if I shouldn't be here. And I got my jersey on right now. And I used to love playing on the court and on the field. And it would be it would be devastating. I think honestly for a lot of us if it was changed completely, if you want to give a little ghost on hiding the horse, like whatever, that's not what it's about. None of our stickers, none of our march, really has that on there. It's all are you. But just the horse and the ghost part, that's what we care about. The gout part. It's cool. It's different. And that was all of my two cents. I wish I was speaking to the people that were curious actually about it. But I think that it's safe to say that if they're not willing to show up and put in the effort for you guys, I mean, that speaks all that. I really need to hear from them. So appreciate it. Thank you. Move to somebody online next. So Emma, and I think if I hold this... Yes, are you able to hear me? Hi. Thanks for calling on me. I was thinking about this earlier today. I'm an educator in the district, New to Vermont. I will say my high school mascot in New York was the generic Indians. And my high school has been, people have been working for years to try and change that mascot. And I am excited that this district has an opportunity to also think critically about history and about the future and about the kind of values around diversity and inclusion that the district stands for. I kind of felt earlier, summing it up as if you have to ask, if your mascot could represent the KKK, then maybe it's time to change the mascot so that that's not something people have to wonder or ask. And there is so much worthwhile and important flora and fauna in the area that would serve, I think, as a really powerful mascot as well that would not possibly be offensive or contain a history of violence towards marginalized and oppressed people. I think the district has an opportunity to kind of step up and take a stand about the history of oppression in the United States. So I just hope that it takes the opportunity to really think about that. Yeah, and that's what I have. So thanks for listening. Hi, one second. I just have something quick to say, and I want to say this is really directed specifically at the Randolph mascot and not others. So I think I agree with Dylan a lot. I recently graduated about five years ago and there is a lot of pride in the, like, we believe in ghosts. I also found it very kind of mystical and something that I felt like a bunch of people could get behind because it's not, like, very sport-centered in that type of way. And it just created a lot of community. And I think recently Randolph and the student body has been really working on bolstering their community and making this a place where everyone feels accepted. And I think a big part about that is the uniqueness of our mascot. And in the complaint, in the end, they said something really important. They said we deal with schools like a lot of mass shootings and a lot of mental health crises. And so my question is why aren't we focusing on that instead of focusing on this mascot that I don't feel like it's... Okay, do we have somebody online? Do we have anyone else out in the audience? I see someone coming down. You can't do that. Just barely. I'm on the stage. Hi, I'm Don Wood. This is real personal to me. My father was the original Galloping Ghost. In 1939-40, those 16, 70-year-old boys, Saddle, went over to Rutland. Unknown. They were the Randolph white shirts. They weren't even supposed to be there. They were playing Division A. We were B. They were A. And we beat them with fast breaks, determination in those pure white uniforms. That's where the name came from. Although Marusi asked Coach Gades if he could start calling us the Galloping Ghost, and he agreed. That night, when we went in there, there were white shirts unknown. When they came out of there, they were the Galloping Ghost and proud of it. Nothing is racist in their beginning. And we never had thought of it that way. My suggestion to hopefully calm things down, get rid of the ghost on top of the horse. Let's have a horse that's Galloping and proud. Because that's what we are. That's what we're supposed to be. And it seems to be falling off here in the last few years of a proud Galloping Ghost area. I don't know what's happening, but maybe you should start thinking more about being the Galloping Ghost again. Thank you. We have another person. Yes. Come on down. Hi. My name is Karen McGinty, and I've lived in this town for 20 years as another black person, but I have a different view. Maybe it's because I'm a little bit older. I have not one, two instances of history of the Klan. And I'll tell you what it's like to see a Klan from a horseback, because I saw one. I'll tell you what it's like to feel like you are going to just die right there, because that is the epitome of hate. When I see the Galloping Ghost, I think of the Klan. No people here don't. And I don't expect anybody to stand in my shoes, but as a black person, it is devastating. I have cried about this. And I don't have children. I have supported every educational budget in this town. I come to school suppers. I try to do all that, because I believe in public education. But if I had children, I would never allow them to wear that uniform, because that's what it stands for to me. There's a history of my seeing them in the 80s. There's a history of them shooting up my grandfather's town because they were upset, because he was a successful black person down south. My friends have bullet holes in their walls and slept with double-barrel guns because of the Klan. And so when I see that, that's what I think of. And it's hard for me to erase it. It's hard for me to say, oh, it's the history, it's the legacy. I don't hear that. It's the history. But times have changed. And we have people who don't want to teach black history anymore, because it's upsetting to white kids. This is white history that's upsetting to black people. And it is. And I might be the only one standing in this room who agrees. No, I have someone here. I might be the only black person in the North's room who says that. But I have to say it, and I have to be here. I've never come to one of these meetings. But this upsets me so much. I can't even tell you. You need to get rid of this. There are a million animals out there. You could be the polar bears. You could be the flying squirrels. But this is a racist symbol. It is a galloping horse, a person on a galloping horse. You pull up a Ku Klux Klan picture of a person on a horse. And there, you can superimpose them. That's all I'm going to say. That's how I feel. And I just... Please, please let people finish speaking. You will have your turn. I'm going to sit here and listen to everybody who disagrees. So please, don't shout at me. I feel this way. I'm not going to ever feel differently. So if you keep this mascot, that's your choice. But don't kid yourself and say, oh, it's just history. It's a legacy. It's funny. Ah, it's not. There's nothing funny about this mascot. Anybody online? We'll just try to go back and forth. Nobody online? Do we have some folks in the audience who would like to speak? Oh, there we go. Sorry. I'm black. I'm like a techie. I've lived here for nearly 30 years. Can you tell us your name? Tamara Morgan, East Randolph. My daughter went to school here all her life. The minute I drove into town, the minute I saw this mascot, I knew exactly what it was. I knew exactly what it was. It's a clan's person. It's the Ku Klux Klan. I'm sorry. You might feel differently. You might have grown up thinking of this symbol very differently. Obviously, you did. And you didn't ever have to fear the clan. I've never had to fear the clan. But I've educated enough to know that it's a horrible symbol. And I'm educated enough to know when I see it, I know what it is. It's racist. It's wrong. I've been embarrassed about it the whole time I've been here. We've gone over this and over this and it's time to put a stop to it. This is the wrong mascot for the school. If you want to have pride in your school, I agree with Mr. Wood. Take the horse and take the rider off. The rider is the dangerous thing. The horse is not. A rider in a sheet is not a ghost. It's a man in a sheet looking for black people to glitch. Now, that makes you comfortable. That's fine. But it's the wrong mascot for your kids. Okay, we have someone online. Sierra Bond. Yeah, we're going to put the mic fire by the owl again. I'm really glad that we're having this discussion around this mascot because I think there's like, you know, a lot of people have different opinions on it. But I feel like even if the mascot wasn't intended to portray a Ku Klux Klan member, that doesn't mean that like the impact can't be this figure that is very polarizing to a lot of people, especially given a lot of the stuff that's happened in the community in the past few years. I feel like having that symbol sort of as the forefront of the school just sort of like continues to be sort of polarizing to people and giving out this sort of message of a not welcoming place in this community, which I know a lot of people right now are trying really hard to fix. And so I think like hearing what people are saying, I'm hearing people say some really awesome things about how they were feeling in this school. And I feel like that in order for a community to work together and you know, celebrate our sports teams and everything, it does not, we don't need to like fully rely on a symbol of a mascot to do that. And so I think that like if we, our current symbol is causing harm to people, there are plenty of other things that are like representing Vermont, representing Randolph, that we could definitely use that does not create an uncomfortable space for so many people. Thank you. Thank you very much. Mr. Millington, do you want to, I believe there has been some movement toward changing the mascot. Do you want to? Oh, there's somebody else? Okay, then we'll go ahead and maybe. Hi, John Hellfant, Brookfield, Roxbury. So down by the gym there's a, I don't know if it's called a letter posted, Mr. Wood talked about some of it. I'm going to read some of it. It says, with Randolph always wearing a white uniform and always broke down the floor fast, Galloping. It gave him the idea, Galloping Ghosts. He asked Coach Gavis for his consent. Coach came to the locker room and asked all of us, the students, the team, and we answered yes. So the Galloping Ghosts were born in 1940. None of that has to do with the clan. None of that has to do with racism. The history of the Galloping Ghosts, 83 years of history, is about a basketball team. So these comments about it being part of the clan just have no basis in history. I also pulled up some yearbooks. The original Ghost Rider is skeletonized. And I believe Mr. Millington brought that up in 2020 that it was a skeletonized rider. The clansmen that exist today are human beings who are racist. This is a skeletonized rider, not a human being. And I brought several photos of yearbooks, different colors from different years. None of them look like the clansmen. None of them. I also went to the Southern Poverty Law Center and got a photo of clansmen. And if you were to look at the photos, you can see they're not even remotely close. So I would suggest that the rider remain on the horse in a skeletonized fashion, as it was originally made in the 1940s. That does not look like a clansman. And it can just have a cape. It has nothing to do with the clan, ma'am. And, well, here's a picture. The original Gallif and Ghost. And this is a clansman from the Southern Poverty Law Center. They don't look anything alike. They do. The comments are directed up here to the... So that would be my recommendation and that it be tainted back on the wall. And the school spirit that many of the kids, our former students talked about here, could really begin again. They could coalesce around it. A skeletonized rider in a cape is not dressed like a clansman. The origination of the name had nothing to do with the clan. And we shouldn't throw it away. Thank you. Next person? My name is Brooke Sargent. I went to school here. And I'm a little bit offended by people who are saying this is like a clansman because I played under this mascot. No, don't shake your head at me. I'm so serious. There's really nothing racist about this. I am not racist. People, please. I'm just letting you know. I actually played under this mascot and now you guys are making it sound like it's racist. It is. Well, then you're calling me racist and you don't know who I am. I am absolutely racist. You are. No, I would love to stop this. Then she has a right to save her peace. Undisturbed. So please leave her undisturbed. If not, I will have to ask you to leave. Thank you. I'm sorry. So I've been asked to kind of speak. I'm lame only until I am a superintendent. I can give a little bit of history, which I think is probably important for people to know. I can talk a little bit about the decision that was made four years ago. I think it was four years ago. It might have been five years ago at this point in time. But the issue was brought up at the time. I think I was in either my first or my second year here. And I did do a considerable amount of research on the historic mascot, which as Mr. Helfand has said, was a grim reaper on a horse. It was a skeleton with a scythe sitting on a horse. There is still an image of it that is on a plaque that is out in front of the school if people would like to see that. And I also had the opportunity to go up and spend an evening with the alumni. They used to run a good alumni dinner up in Brookfield at the old town office up there. And what was interesting at the time is they had brought in yearbooks that went back to the 1930s, I believe. And I spent some time kind of flipping through the yearbooks. That historic image of the mascot was never officially changed. What had happened during the research was sometime in the late 1980s, early 1990s. My understanding in talking with folks was that the yearbook committees would get together and would ask the students, you know, what does the galloping ghost mean to you? And the students would produce artwork. That would go into the yearbook. But they were never the official image of the school. For some reason, people decided to use some of those images up and around the building. And when I did my research, what I saw, again, my perspective in trying to find the right solution for the community at the time was that there was a racial overtone to the later images. And that was why I made the decision at the time that I did to have the image removed from the wall. There has not been an image represented of this building or this team for the last four or five years. The equity coordinator that we have now that has been brought on board and the high school has been working to reimagine that image. There was a picture of, you know, what they were looking at in the town paper about a week ago. And it is merely a ghostly horse to change that image. When I did my research in terms of the Galloping Ghost name, there was nothing that I could find that associated it with stereotypes, with discriminatory practices, or anything at that point in time. But again, there is ongoing work about reimagining that image. And I think the work that folks have been doing towards that end has been very positive and is putting things in the right direction. My name is Laura Churchill. I've lived here all my life. I went to the school here. I agree with Woody. We all know that that wasn't intended to be a Ku Klux plan. For 30 years, we've added ghost stickers. I've been doing these for, I don't know, well over 30 years. I started painting them on when Amy was in seventh grade and then we turned them into stickers. Since then, one of my daughters has a... I'll get this, but he's a half black, half white little boy. I have a grandchild that's half black. So this puts it in a different perspective. So I talked to Latina on Sunday and if we could get the galloping ghost back that the artist painted in the gym, that he was a beautiful horse, not the one that was on the paper last week, but a bareback horse and our little stickers and our little chance that we believe in ghosts, I think that would be a good compromise and just check off the writer that's offensive because even the ghost or the sweatshirt to Tina and Bruce is offensive. So I would like to go with Woody's compromise. Shane Weyford. I graduated in 1993. I have coached here. I'm a wrestling and wrestling coach and coached baseball, coached soccer, coached all these kids, still a man out of the school. I'm also, forgive me, I'm not a good bubble-teaker, but I'm married to a black woman and I'm raising a child to mix ethnicity and so we have open dialogue all the time. I talk to them about these events and things I'm hearing at school and I have conversations with them. I ask them, you know, is this a thing that responses always, no. He said he does not deal with racism within the school. He loves his mascot, he loves the ghost. My wife is wearing her ghost sweatshirt tonight. I brought her in and showed her the image a couple years ago before I was taken down and I asked her what she thought because that's the conversation we needed to have and she did not see this as a big deal and imagery is what you make of it, what you perceive it to be. I changed the mascot to whatever we want, the Care Bears and somebody's gonna have an offensive outlook, someone's been balled by a bear. We could do this all day. What we need to do is just go to the ghost, leave our name on it. There's a story tradition here. I remember when I was in school, every kid from all walks of life, they were out there on the soccer field when we had a home playoff game. They were wearing ghost stickers on their cheeks. Everybody had shirts, there was pride there. So, I don't think we need to abandon that and I'm sorry to the people who feel different. I'm sorry for your experience. You should not have to endure that, but that's not here. And I know 99% of the people in this room and I'm comfortable having my wife and my kid around these people. These are my community and I know them well and this just is not an issue. So, I think it's an issue. Please let people speak and if you want to come up to the mic, you can come up to the speaker. This is an issue for some people and for some people it's not. As I said, I have open conversations with my wife. My wife is black. My wife has experienced real racism before, threatening physical violence. And if she's comfortable with it, then I'm comfortable with it. So, I'm going to switch to the online folks. Denise Preston. Denise Preston. Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Hello? Yes, we can hear you. So, I asked a question in the chat section. Going back to your process, Laney, I just want to verify and maybe you said it but the audio wasn't always great here. So, if the complainers forfeit their time, is this now null and void or because you don't have a form there, can they bring it to you at a different time? So, at this point, the complaint is not, well it will respond to it, but they didn't come to the hearing, which is the way that we follow the process in the policy. So, anyone at any time can come to us and request a hearing and complain about our mascot and we have to follow the policy, which means we would need to hear their complaint and then deliberate and make a decision. Thank you. Okay. So, do you want to go ahead? Hi Karen, you have your hand up online. You were welcome to speak. If you're muted, please unmute. Okay, do we have someone down front? Yes, it looks like it. Go ahead. My name is Albert Wood. I've lived here, I can't say all my life because I'm still alive, but I've been 75 years old and I've been here since 6 years old. I went to school here, I graduated here, my daughter graduated here, my son's graduated here. They lived with the died here of Galloping Ghost. They played, they wrestled, they did all the things that their Galloping Ghost did and they were proud of it. There's nothing wrong with the Galloping Ghost. It's wrong that we're having problems with races. I have three grandchildren that are black and my racist? No, I love my grandkids. I have 13 and all of them, but I have three black kids and they're great kids. There's nothing wrong with it. I would never, ever trade them off for anything. That would be racist and if we are doing that then we are racist, but we aren't. I'm doing here a Galloping Ghost which represents the school and represents the kids that are doing all the sports. There's nothing wrong with that. They have a great time. Have they ever been gone out and said, we're racist? No. I don't believe they ever have. I've never heard that in my kids. My kids are great. I hope your kids are great. But that's the way it is. But like I said, I'm 75 years old, I have not a problem. I don't have a problem with anything. But I do have a problem with us trying to change this name. And I think we're wrong. And if we have these people that are so right about coming here and can't even show up, then what is it we're looking for? Are we looking for people to tell us what to do that don't even want to? If that's the case, maybe we ought to do it. But if not, then I think we should stay on our grounds. Anyway, that's all I can say. Do we have someone else from the audience? Sure. Okay. What I'm hearing from this audience of overwhelming numbers of white people is a lot of privilege and a lot of ignorance about racism. Please refrain from comments. Oh, they can comment all they like. No, no, we're not going to have this turn into mayhem. There is a lot of ignorance about racism in this town because until, I don't know, maybe three or four years ago, maybe ten, I'll give it ten, the only people of color in this town were adoptees, white people who had adopted children of color. We have a few people now coming into town who are black or other racists or some indigenous folks. You have been very isolated here and very privileged here and you've grown up in your little community and you think that everything is hunky-dory because you've never experienced anything wrong. It's fine. I have black grandchildren. Ooh, that makes me not racist. It is terrible. It is terrible. Let's try to... Oh, that's racist. Fine. And not patronizing to other people, please. I'm not being patronizing. I'm telling the truth. That's your perspective. No, my perspective. I don't know if you people here can even have that perspective. I understand. This is a ridiculous meeting and I don't have anything with it. No, you're not. Everybody's furious and what are you guys going to do? People wanted to have an opportunity to speak and we're giving them an opportunity to speak. You've been speaking for 20 years since I've come to this town. 30 years, sorry. People have been wanting to get rid of this mascot. Did she get one time? This is my second time up here and there are a few people with my opinion here. It's okay if people want to speak more than once. Oh, I thought it was a three-minute time. It's very difficult, as you can see, to be someone with an opinion that goes against the primarily white opinion of this town. With all respect to Dylan, he grew up here. And that's all he knew. He had to tell the line or he was not going to be safe. He can't speak for Dylan. No, I can't speak for Dylan. I'm sorry. I believe that to be true. Let her speak as well. I just need to clarify that. Dylan spoke very nicely for himself. What I'm saying is that it wouldn't have been very safe for him to think otherwise. And none of you has had to face that kind of danger. None of you in this very white audience has ever had to face racism women. Maybe you haven't recognized the sexism you've faced, but you have. No, I'm a very woke person. Ooh, that's a horrible thing to be. It's about this awful, awful mascot. Okay, your time is up. Thank you. Okay, folks, let's try to keep the comments to yourself. Yes, very much so. And come to the mic if you would like to speak. Go ahead. Okay, first of all, for anybody who is offended by it, I am sorry. But you know, I see things in like every day that I'm offended by. But you know what? It's my thing. I moved here 30 years ago, like you. And when I pulled into this town, I didn't see an offending thing. What I saw, because there actually was a sporting event going on, was a sense of pride, a sense of community, a sense of union, of people working together. The ghost doesn't represent the clan. It represents a history of a town that works together and stands together. When there is a tragedy in this town, it comes together and it helps one another. It is not based on race. It is not based on anything other than a need. That ghost symbol to my husband and so many other people in this room represents different times in their lives when they needed the support of their community. It is a representative of community that stands together, works together, and cares. And as for your attitude of people in this room other than the few minorities that we have, I don't know about you, but I'm a mutt. I got a little bit of, I'm a mutt. I have a little bit of all kinds of ethnicities in me. Yeah, I'm a mutt. I'm a mongrel. I do have African, I don't have African American. I have American Indian. I have Scottish, Irish, everything. All of these people and almost all of our ancestors in one way or another were oppressed, whether it was you were a woman or you were an Indian. My grandfather would not tell people that he was half Native American Indian because he was ashamed of it. Okay, so you can't sit here in judgment and say every person in this room has white privilege. They don't understand being prejudiced against or anything else. Some of us have. So you are being basically, I'm sorry to say it, you are being just as racist as somebody else because you're judging people by the color of their skin. We are all human beings. We should all just embrace each other, accept each other for who we are and stop labeling everything. Instead of arguing, hug somebody, why does it always have to be a fight? Why can't we agree to disagree and there is always going to be adversity and if these students don't learn how to handle adversity in a school system, how are they going to handle adversity when they get out in the college system? Because I know for a fact that four of the alumni from last year's graduating class have already gotten out of college systems because they couldn't handle the adversity when they got there. Three minutes are up, sorry. We just need to be more compassionate. Thank you. I just want to say one more thing. I do feel like, as Lane mentioned, that there was like a recognition of what this mascot did mean and why the process has been made to change it and when speaking about this, I speak about the new mascot, not the old one and just like recognizing that we can like, again, recognize, apologize, and shift which is what we're doing and I feel like that's the right decision but I feel like taking the name ghost out of it isn't needed and I think that's what a lot of us are here for. Okay, thank you. Okay, we'll let one or two more people speak if they'd like. Hi. I'm a junior here. My name is Rowan and I think that the main issue here isn't, it isn't really that people are like offended by the imagery. I think some people feel threatened and like that's a concern and I think the main thing that people feel like is a threatening part of the imagery is the rider in white on the horse and I think I don't know if it's necessary to change the name. I don't know how I feel about the idea of having like a skeleton horse or a skeleton rider on the horse but I think if we were to lose the rider on the horse I think that that would make most people happy. I don't know if, I don't know what everyone's consensus is on that but it seems like that's what we're moving towards so I think that would be a pretty good step to take. That's just my opinion about it but yeah, thanks. Thank you very much. Do you have someone else who'd like to speak? Yes. We have one more. My name is Nathan Snow. I was class of 89. We, our girls and boys teams were really dominant for those years and with the mascot being what it is I'm proud of what it is and I don't think it needs to be changed. We have changed it a little already to comply with some complaints. Personally I think it's time to leave it alone and find something else to complain about. Let's put more of our time into teaching our students and we'll learn a little bit more in the community. At that time in 89 we had a family, a colored family, the Williams's. Super, super, salt in the earth people. Never had an issue, never had a problem. One of them is out in California right now and he could be watching us right now but I don't think he ever, ever felt displaced from it and I'm sorry for you just because I'm sorry for you. And I think it's time to move on. I know we're all trying to evolve and get over things and we're in a sensitive area where everything needs a label but I think it's time for the adults to tell the kids to stop worrying about it and find something else to do. And that's just my opinion. Thanks a little trying to hear that person. How much money and time has been spent on this issue? If you don't care, why are you here? I do care. Let's not have a dialogue right now. We're going to move on to our final comment from the person. If you want to go out in the parking lot and have a dialogue about it, you may, but we're not doing that right here, okay? Katie, do you need help? Hi, thank you. Can you hear me? Yes. I am a teacher at Randolph Elementary School, but for right now I'm putting my parent hat on. And while we're on the topic of racism, perhaps the community would like to know that my son tells me frequently he hears the N word at school. It's a problem at least at the middle school. I can't speak to the high school. My high school student has gone elsewhere. When I was a student in 1995, it would stuck another Vermont Union School. No one ever, ever, ever would have said that. We knew it was wrong. I don't know what's going on. Maybe kids are hearing it at home, but maybe parents of kids who this is concerning to them could talk to their students, but it's not just the mascot here. I'm sorry. Yeah, that's it. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Okay. It is now almost eight o'clock. I think we've heard from a lot of folks and appreciate you coming out. And again, this was just an opportunity for you all to speak once our hearing ended.