Hurley board sticks with mascot change

By RICHARD JENKINS and BRYAN HELLIOS

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Hurley — The Hurley School Board acknowledged mistakes had been made in the process, but voted Monday to proceed with plans to change the district’s mascot from the Midgets.

“We certainly made some missteps along the way, and for that we truly apologize,” School Board President Joe Simonich said.

He explained the process began with a desire for a discussion about the mascot, but when those efforts failed, the board felt it was best to put the matter on the ballot. Citing the “rhetoric” on social media around the decision, Simonich said he felt the board was forced to retire the mascot rather than seek a vote. He said the decision to not put the matter to public vote was legal and not intended to circumvent the public will.

“It was never our intent, nor is it our intent now, to completely extinguish the Midget memory, or its significance to the community and the district,” he said. “There’s no desire to remove records, or trophies, or posters that speak to the great Midget history.”

District Administrator Chris Patritto laid out his vision for the process of moving forward in selecting a new mascot.

He said he plans to create a rebranding team featuring students and other stakeholders. The team will design a survey for the community to provide feedback, Patritto said.

The students will play a key role in the decision making under the process Patritto laid out.

“It’s their school and I think going forward the vast majority of input should probably come from the students here,” he said.

Under the timeline Patritto laid out, a new mascot would be chosen by the end of the school year.

The board approved Patritto’s plan to move forward.

Prior to the board’s decision, representatives from sides of the issue had an opportunity to make their case regarding the mascot change.

Bob Alleva gave an impassioned speech against the board changing the Midgets mascot, arguing the matter needed to be put to a public vote.

Comparing the issue to an athletic contest, he said a vote was a matter of fairness and he’d back whatever the public decided.

“Play fair, vote on it,” he said.

“You don’t want to win it through the backdoor. (You want to go) head on … and I’ll go to bat for you if you win,” he said to those in favor of a new mascot.

Following Alleva, Neil Klemme praised the board for moving forward.

“The fact is, words have meaning. And intent is not what makes a word or action offensive,” Klemme said, recounting the history of the term midget back to the time of carnival sideshows.

“All (the district’s positives) are overshadowed by a symbol that doesn’t represent the incredible young people we are raising and sending into the world,” Klemme said. “It is time to move forward and select a mascot that is more representative of the great school we have and the amazing students who attend our school.”

He urged the board to consider a symbol that not only celebrates the area’s past, but its present and future as well.

Following the various statements, Simonich urged everyone to remember that the district had a lot of positives to celebrate regardless of a person’s feelings on the mascot.

“I don’t care what side of the table you’re on here, we do a damn good job educating kids here,” he said to applause.

“Hopefully you will continue to support these kids. If you don’t want to support the board, that’s fine; but these kids deserve a good, tranquil, safe environment here in the Hurley School District,” he said later.