PLYMOUTH – Does one of the town’s elementary schools have an inappropriate school logo?
The Plymouth School Committee will be looking into whether the Native American depicted on signs for Indian Brook Elementary School is culturally insensitive.
Committee Vice Chairman Michelle Badger raised the issue Monday at the end of a marathon meeting on how to reopen schools. Badger, who is also a member of the town’s No Place For Hate Committee, told board members she was asked to look into the matter by someone through her work with the diversity group. The School Committee will take up the issue at a future meeting.
In an interview, Badger said the complaint specifically related to the logo, not the school name. The school is named for Indian Brook, which runs just south of the school. The logo depicts a shirtless Native American standing before a body of water, looking out over hills on the horizon.
Ironically, Indian Brook Elementary School officials have been working on a possible revision to the logo, which Principal Erica Manfredi said was the winning entry in a student design contest years ago.
The water in the image is supposed to represent Indian Brook. The hills are the Pine Hills.
Manfredi said the school started looking into revising the logo last year as part of a plan to name a school mascot.
Other elementary schools in town have mascots that are used in programs to encourage good student behavior, but Indian Brook has never had one.
Manfredi said the school tinkered with the idea of making a fish the school mascot and had an art teacher draw a logo that replaced the Native American standing on shore with a fish jumping out of the water. The school even printed up a few of the new logos on staff T shirts.
The reaction was mixed. Manfredi said someone in the community found out about the possible change and posted a social media rant about the school becoming too politically correct. Others chimed in, voicing opposition to change and tampering with tradition. Others liked it.
Badger and Manfredi said it remains to be seen what, if any, change should be made to the logo. But both said it is a discussion that should happen. And they are willing to listen.
“I get it. I understand the times we're living in, and I appreciate other people’s opinions about it, and I think we have to be respective of both sides,” Manfredi said.
Badger said that whether the logo is seen as insensitive or not is not the lone issue. She said it is also important for the community to come together to discuss it.
“It’s important to have the conversation, to start it, so we are part of the conversation, not just the problem,” she said.