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

We Have A Name, Bestowed By Skowhegan So-Called Indian Pride: We Are Changers!

Brewer High School's mascot logo

Organizing for social change can be tiring. Especially in Maine, where 50% of our winter plans go astray as the weekly (or twice weekly) storms brought on by climate change necessitate canceling events like a door to door campaign. As an organizer I often have several precious hours already invested in an event that gets snowed out.

So that is one of the reasons that local people don't often take a leading role in changing the Skowhegan Area High School mascot from pretendians to something fun and inoffensive. Osprey anyone? (I think it's most likely they will change to Patriots, but any mascot based on human beings is likely to be problematic.)

This is a comment thread on SIP leader and conflict-of-interest board member Jennifer Poirier's post about the Skowhegan girls basketball team beating the Brewer High School Witches. I am going to assume that Mary Compton calling them "ho" is a typo and that she meant to type "go." I am also going to assume that Mindy Gilbert doesn't know that there is a sizeable Wiccan community in our area, one that proudly draws on what they call "Old Traditions of Witchcraft," and that some members may very well be offended by Brewer's mascot.

Probably Mindy did not major in history, and thus may be only dimly aware that many alleged witches were tortured to death in New England. There are towns like Salem, Massachsetts that have built an entire tourist industry on this history.

The real point here is that SIP folks think it is hilarious to offend people.

And, to return to my original point, it is exhausting trying to reason with people who find it fun to offend. For white people like me, there is the option to walk away from the problem muttering that you can't fix stupid. But it isn't stupidity, it's ignorance. And not knowing is an entirely different thing from not being capable of understanding.

Consider this SIP post in the same thread, from a political theorist posting as Joseph Pais:

Pais has a Facebook profile that includes a MAGA hat child pissing on the word Hillary (Clinton, presumably) from 2016, so it would appear that his analytical chops have developed over the last couple of years.

"Leaving race out of the argument they [changers] have no foundation to stand on" starts down a strategic path that does afford some insight. White man says: we refuse to talk about race. That's white privilege in a nutshell.

White privilege turns the corner to white supremacy when it says: "that's when you see the real racist in this argument come out."

They are talking about Penobscot tribal ambassador Maulian Dana here, whom they have demonized to the point where I'm surprised Joseph Pais hasn't photoshopped his MAGA hat meme to swap out Hillary for Maulian. It's likely that some in SIP have thought about it.

However, they have a mole in their closed Facebook group, and they know for certain that an image like that would turn up not only in this blog but also in newspapers and t.v. channels in Maine.

Pretending that Maulian "stands alone" despite the enormous turnout of Native people from several Wabanaki tribes, and that she is just doing it for attention, are common themes for SIP.

The reference above alleging that she "doesn't keep her word" means this, I think: the school board voted 11-9 in 2015 to keep using the racist mascot, and the SIP folks imagined that Maulian and the other changers had agreed to slink away, silenced, if the school board vote went against them.

Key point from Jennifer's post above: it's not the institutionalized racism that is causing turmoil, it's commenting on the racism. White silence is required to maintain the status quo. Got it.

Would it surprise you to know that some changers on the board were threatened with physical harm because they voted to retire the Indian mascot? Some had the courage and good enough health to continue serving on the school board anyway. Not all have been up to the continuous, arduous task.

In fact, Not Your Mascot chapters in Maine and throughout North America have made it perfectly clear that they will not be silenced. And that they will not go away until all the Native mascots and team names are in the dustbin of history.

I stand with them. And I'm not going away either, no matter how weary I get.

Should Skowhegan Board Member Jennifer Poirier Recuse Herself From Voting On The Mascot?

"Organizer Jennifer Poirier speaks with the media during a Skowhegan Indian Pride rally in front of the Indian sculpture on Skowhegan on Monday [Columbus Day, 2015]. Poirier said the rally was to show "positive community spirit" by those who support the Indians nickname and mascot. Staff photo David Leaming" from the Waterville Morning Sentinel, "A Tale of Two Rallies"

Last week the school board that oversees educational issues for Skowhegan Area High School received a letter from an alumna that has done well following high school. Allison Dorko, Class of 2005, has a Ph.D. in math education from Oregon State University and teaches math at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater. She's not an expert on school board policies, but she is willing to do her homework.

Before writing her letter, Dr. Dorko looked into policies governing the behavior of school board members. Here is what she found: if they have a conflict of interest, they are required to disclose it and may need to abstain from voting. 

The full text of her letter:

December 26, 2018

Dear RSU #54 / MSAD #54 School Board:

     This is an open letter requesting that Jennifer Poirier abstain from voting in any future votes on the Indian mascot/name issue. As the creator and administrator of the Skowhegan Indian Pride Facebook page, Ms. Poirier has a conflict of interest that prevents her from voting impartially. As such, adherence to the RSU #54 / MSAD #54 policies and Maine School Boards Association policies requries that Ms. Poirier abstain from voting. In the remainder of this letter, I cite the specific policy statements that would be violated if Ms. Poirier voted in future votes on the mascot/nickname issue.

MSAD/RSU54 School Board Member Code of Ethics, Part II Item C:

"...it shall be my constant endeavor to...Base my personal decision upon all available facts in each situation, to vote my honest conviction in every case, unswayed by partisan bias of any kind..."

Merriam-Webster defines partisan (adj.) as "feeling, showing, or deriving from strong and sometimes blind adherence to a particular party, faction, cause or person" and partisan (noun) as "a firm adherent to a party, faction, cause or person." Ms. Poirier's cause, as indicated by her creation of the Skowhegan Indian Pride Faceook page, is to keep the mascot/name. The page reads, "we are a group that supports the preservation of the name Skowhegan Indians." This public statement of Ms. Poirier's allegiance to keeping the Indian mascot is evidence that her vote will be (and has been in the past) swayed by partisan bias.

     The Maine School  Boards Association Handbook details the appropriate action when a member has a conflict of interest:

Maine School Boards Association Handbook, Section 5, Conflicts of Interest

"...Board members must be constantly alert to their responsibilities and potential conflicts, and take care to avoid even the appearance of self-interest through disclosure or abstention (Title 30-A §2605)"

Mere disclosure is not sufficient in Ms. Poirier's case. She created the Indian Pride group, and as such, is leading the charge to keep the mascot/name. It is inappropriate for her to vote on an issue when she has such an obvious conflict of interest. The school board takes care to avoid pecuniary conflicts of interest and nepotism, and Ms. Poirier's conflict of interest is of equal severity.

Sincerely,

Allison Dorko, Ph.D. (SAHS Class of 2005)

Screenshot of the Facebook page referenced by Dr. Dorko in her letter.

The school board oversees education for all students in the district.

Some of its decisions also impact alumni of the school. For example, many alumni are embarrassed by the team name. Others dread the inevitable change. But the well-being of alumni is not the school board's concern.

I was reminded of this as I read a 2015 article in EdSource about California's law banning Native mascots and team names in public schools. Erig Stegman, co-author of a 2014 report on the harm done by Native mascots, told reporter Jane Meredith Adams:

"We shouldn't be placing the sentimentality of a letterman's jacket or jersey above the interest of success for any student."

A sticker produced by Ms. Poirier's group. Photo courtesy of Maulian Dana

That sentimentality appears to motivate Ms. Poirier and other members of her group. They look away as sports booster moms, Girls State representatives, and civil rights team members testify to the harm done to actual students by continuing to cling to the name at the behest of sentimental alumni.

Tamarleigh Grenfell outside a school board meeting in 2015 (my photo).

The school board has scheduled a public forum on the issue for Tuesday, January 8 at 6pm in the Skowhegan Area Middle School gymnasium. Nature may have another plan in mind, however, as a nor'easter bears down on the region, so a snow date of Monday, January 14 has already been announced.

Massive snowstorms and school board directors who care more about sports than education are features of life in central Maine. Stay tuned...