WEST HARTFORD — The Board Of Education voted Tuesday night to change the high school nicknames of the Hall Warriors and Conard Chieftains.
Both high schools will create committees consisting of school administrators, teachers, employees, students, parents and members of the school communities that will work to come up with new nicknames by June 7.
The decision comes seven years after the board voted to keep the names but remove the Native American imagery associated with them.
The move also coincides with Public Act 21-2 that the state legislature passed in June, which would deny any funding from the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan Fund to any school that uses “any name, symbol or image that depicts, refers to or is associated with a state or federally recognized Native American tribe or a Native American individual, custom or tradition, as a mascot, nickname, logo or team name.”
West Hartford stands to receive nearly $28,000 from that fund.
But those who voted to change the name said that wasn’t their only motive.
Board member Ari Steinberg, citing an email from a Conard High School student, said that if the nickname hurts one person that they should change it.
“This is a student who walks into school with the word Chieftain ‘plastered over my head,’ ” Steinberg said, quoting the email. “She goes into a school with a name that she does not feel comfortable with. If it hurts even one student, we are not doing our job. We are not doing our due diligence.”
There was much debate during the meeting, from both members of the public and board members themselves, about the definitions of the words chieftain and warrior.
While some said that both words can be defined in a variety of ways, others disagreed with that notion, saying they believed both names are too entangled with their past connection to Native American imagery, and that students continue to make references to that.
“Here in West Hartford, it is very apparent that the historical connotations exist…despite the fact that we removed the imagery,” Steinberg said. “It’s not about the definition of the word. It’s about the impact that it is having on Native American people. They are telling us that the use of these terms is offensive and disrespectful of them. And that’s where my heart wants to follow.”
“There are those that remain steadfast in continuing to use…‘the tribe’ and ‘the reservation,’ ” said board member Jason Chang. “The debate on the meaning of these words will never end.”
Gayle Harris, who was opposed to changing both names, said she grew up in West Hartford and has a personal connection to the nicknames.
“I have a connection to those names. They mean something to me. They are part of my heritage, they are part of my culture,” Harris said. “If you change these names, you erase a part of our culture and our heritage in this town. That has to be taken into account.”
Scott Zweig, a resident who spoke first during the public comment portion of the meeting, said he was opposed to the name change and asked the board to delay their vote in an attempt to gather more information about the process through public forums and surveys.
“I ask that you delay the vote on the high school team names until the entire community has had the opportunity to weigh in,” Zweig said. “The board has not adequately or actively sought input from the community on this issue. You have not done your homework.”
Student representatives Avery Woods Weber of Hall and Andrew Maglio of Conard did share feedback they received from fellow students. Weber’s survey had 505 respondents, about one-third of the school’s population, and 62 percent of them said they were in favor of keeping the Warrior name.
Board member Ethan Goldman made a motion to delay the decision until March 1, but the vote failed 4-3.
Goldman said he wanted to receive more information about the costs that would be associated with changing the nicknames.
“There has to be a perception of fairness,” Goldman said. “If we appear to be rushing it, and I’m not saying we are… the perception of fairness is critical. It has to be a fair process. We should give everybody a chance. We should have the forums. We should look at the costs.”
“I am struggling with why we’re feeling that we have to rush this through,” Harris said. “We seem to feel that we need to work very, very quickly. This is a big issue for a lot of people in this town.”
Chang voted no on delaying the motion, citing the agreement made at a meeting in December where they decided to push the vote back from a date in January to the date in February.
“We did delay it from that point. We did push it back,” Chang said. “Given our understanding that we had at the time, this is the process that we’ve gone through. There have been no obstacles to engagement, and I’ve really appreciated all the public input and the demonstration of the personal research and the reflecting.”
Tracey Wilson, the town historian and a resident, is a former Conard High School teacher. She was in favor of changing both names.
“The love of the Chieftain was never universal,” Wilson said. “I wholeheartedly support changing the names of Hall and Conard’s mascots. The use of these names have troubled me since I began teaching and coaching. I refused to have any of the imagery on sports clothing.”
Board members voted along party lines 5-2 to change the Chieftain name, with the two Republican members opposed. Democrat Deb Polun joined the board’s Republican members on the vote to change the Warrior nickname. That vote passed by a 4-3 count.
https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/West-Hartford-Board-Of-Education-votes-to-change-16823882.php
