Killingly High School will choose new mascot to replace Redmen
Superintendent Susan Nash-Ditzel told school board members at a meeting for an ad hoc mascot committee Thursday that a committee composed of high school students, alumni, coaches and town leaders, has narrowed the list of potential mascots to replace Redmen to four finalists.
The committee decided Thursday that five groups — high school students, staff members, coaches, parents and middle schoolers — will have a chance to weigh in on the final decision via an online survey that is tentatively slated to be released May 14 at the close of the town's budget season.
After the survey, the mascot committee will forward a recommendation to the full Board of Education, which will have the final say on the mascot. Committee members emphasized that the survey is not a vote and that the results will be used to inform board members' decisions.
Thursday's announcement moves the district one step closer to selecting a new mascot after the controversial Redmen name was officially retired at a ceremony in November.
Tension over the Redmen mascot, which represented the high school for decades, began to fester in the early 2010s. In 2019, the Board of Education voted to ditch the mascot, citing criticism that its name and image were racist. For a time, the school mascot became the Red Hawks, until 2020 when a new slate of the Board of Education members — who ran on promises to reverse the vote — restored the Redmen logo.
Representatives from the Mashantucket Pequot, Mohegan and Nipmuc tribes blasted the mascot as a degrading caricature that perpetuates negative stereotypes of Native Americans. In 2021, the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management determined that the town was ineligible for $94,000 from the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan Fund Grant due to the Redmen name.
Last June, the Board of Education voted 5-4 to retire the Redmen mascot, presumably once and for all.
The historical committee charged with exploring options for the Redmen's replacement has emphasized options with historical significance.
'I think it will give us, students and the community, a better awareness of our past,' said Town Historian Margaret Weaver, who helped provide historical guidance to the committee.
Nash-Ditzel said the community should not be surprised if there is no imagery to accompany the mascot options in the survey.
'The (historical) committee felt pretty strongly ... that we don't include possible imagery,' Nash-Ditzel said. 'Adults and kids both thought that people, particularly students, might just choose the coolest-looking (option) without really looking at the historical significance behind them.'
a.cross@theday.com
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