A previously used logo of a Native American will not be used in the future at Foxborough High School after a vote from the school committee Tuesday.
The school committee voted to phase out the logo, no longer using the logo as things get replaced. Rob Canfield, Brent Ruter and Richard Pearson voted in favor of the motion. Sarah Lidonni opposed the motion and Michelle Thackston abstained.
This includes no longer using the logo on football helmets as they get replaced each year and other uniforms. There is still one remaining uniform, used on the girl’s junior varsity tennis team, that has the Native American logo on it, the school committee said.
However, equipment and scoreboards will not need to be replaced until their life span runs out.
Overall, replacing the logo would cost less than $2,000 for multiple items, the school committee said.
There were multiple people who attended the meeting and spoke in favor of keeping the logo.
“Terrible,” one person shouted from the crowd after the school committee voted to phase out the logo.
The committee also said many others wrote letters to the committee on the topic.
“It matters and having people’s voices heard always matter,” Ruter said.
The school committee also voted 5-0 to keep the nickname “warriors.”
Ruter emphasized he heard many people who knew what it meant to be a “warrior” and that was important to the community.
A committee will be put together to find a new logo or mascot by August 2024.
Multiple other schools in the state have voted to change their mascots in recent years.
State Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, and Indigenous communities in the state have also introduced Bill S.294, which aims to prohibit “public schools from using an athletic team name, logo, or mascot which names, refers to, represents, or is associated with Native Americans.”
“[Mascots] can be demeaning, they can be a caricature, they can be very one-dimensional, something that maybe gets made fun of or looks goofy at a rally,” Comerford said.
Using caricatures of Native Americans as mascots has been proven to be damaging to Native people. Studies conducted in 2008 and 2011 found that Native mascots lead to negative psychological effects on Native youth, regardless of whether or not they appear to be “neutral.”
Although it was approved by the Education Committee in the 2019-2020 and 2021-2022 sessions, it has yet to pass in both chambers.
