Retire The Mascot Because It Costs Too Much To Defend It Is Focus Of Email Campaign

Pretendian Mark "OneWolf" Yancey (right) was invited to a closed meeting by the Skowhegan "Indian Pride" group led by MSAD 54 board member Jennifer Poirier last Sunday, February 24. Somerset Community TV 11, which videotapes and shares many public meetings in their entirety and without comment, was turned away from the event held at a local bowling alley despite presenting press credentials. 

The MSAD 54 school board is weeks behind in their budget process for school year '19-20, and at least $15,000 out of pocket for defending the "Indian" nickname/macot. Once considered fine, it's now 2019 and the mascot has not aged well at all.

In the run up to this Thursday's board meeting and superintendent's agenda item on next steps, many local taxpayers and other concerned parties are waging a letter writing campaign. Here's the one I sent this morning, with a handy copy-and-paste list of board members, central office administrators and their assistants. 

Subject: Costly, aging mascot needs to retire to free up time and $$ for edu

to: dixiering@msad54.org, maryellencharles@msad54.org, markbedard@msad54.org, haroldbigelow@msad54.org, sarahbunker@msad54.org, heidichartrand@msad54.org, jeannieconley@msad54.org, derekellis@msad54.org, haleyfleming@msad54.org, jeanfranklin@msad54.org, gfrench@msad54.org, theresahoward@msad54.org, richardirwin@msad54.org, christyjohnson@msad54.org, desireelibby@msad54.org, peggylovejoy@msad54.org, brandymorgan@msad54.org, jenniferpoirier@msad54.org, lyndaquinn@msad54.org, amyrouse@msad54.org, karensmith@msad54.org, toddsmith@msad54.org, darcysurette@msad54.org cc: bcolbry@msad54.org, tlaporte@msad54.org, jmoody@msad54.org,tfoster@msad54.org Dear MSAD directors and administrators, I was glad to finally see my question to you all about your budget for legal costs and whether or not it has been exceeded answered in the Sentinel article by Rachel Ohm yesterday. Chair Ring had previously responded to my question about the legal costs of the mascot issue with a figure of $15,000 which is close to the amount in Superintendent Colbry's quote to the reporter (i.e. $15,500). Unfortunately, I can't rely on the accuracy of newspaper articles for information about how MSAD 54 conducts the business of public education on behalf of those of us who pay for it e.g. a file photo of me and my husband in the same article misidentified me as Linda Savage. Your mascot has not aged well and is costing local taxpayers far more than anything related to sports teams should. All the time and expense of defending the "Indian" nickname/mascot is mounting with no end in sight. The board should be focused on developing a workable budget for the '19-20 school year right now.  I am sorry to see that you have a board member cozied up to a pretend "Indian" from the Washington DC area who is no such thing. If you want to read more about Mark "OneWolf" Yancey's history with mascots I recommend this article from the sports website Deadspin: "Is the R##skins' VIP Indian Defender a Fake Indian?" https://deadspin.com/is-the-redskins-vip-indian-defender-a-fake-indian-1642991295 Jen Poirier (at right in photo), you are clearly biased and should recuse yourself from any future vote on retiring the mascot. I am glad that you and others from Skowhegan "Indian Pride" have finally dropped your objections to listening to people from away. Institutionalized racism affects everyone who comes in contact with it, and it has a particularly deleterious effect on young people's self-image and aspirations when they identify with the targeted group. Please do the right thing and retire the mascot before any more money or time is wasted on fighting a losing battle. Sincerely, Lisa Savage Solon resident, Skowhegan taxpayer