Foxboro school board does the right thing ... sort of.

The school committee of the town of Foxborough (henceforth to be spelled here as Foxboro, which is how most people know it), took three votes Tuesday night regarding the school system's sports nickname of "Warriors" and its accompanying logo, which you will recognize as an almost exact duplicate of the Washington NFL franchise's helmet logo from 1972 through 2019.

I did not attend the meeting, but I did watch it on Foxboro Cable Access and I'm reporting on it here because I don't believe the local newspaper's current deadlines allow for next-day reporting of night meetings anymore. So, here's what happened.

The first vote was essentially to affirm that "Warriors" is the official nickname of all FHS athletic teams. It passed by a 5-0 vote. Board members believe that it was the first time in the history of the school system that a sports nickname actually received official sanction by a municipal board. 

Days are numbered for this logo.

The second vote, summarized here from the original wording because I can say it more effectively in fewer words, was to eliminate all future use of Native American imagery in any logo or symbol representing the school, and to phase out the current logo's use when items bearing it would be normally replaced. The motion also prohibited boosters clubs or other outside entities from using the logo on uniforms donated to the school -- although it was noted before the vote that the school system does not accept gifted uniforms, but would accept payment for uniforms that the school department would then design and order.

That passed 3-1 with one member abstaining, following a drawn-out discussion that was marked by a total lack of understanding of the motion's meaning by at least two of the board members, a lot of hand-wringing and agonizing by another, and frequent eruptions of pique by members of the audience, including accusations that Chair Richard Pearson was bullying his fellow members to vote a certain way. I didn't see that, but opinions tend to vary.

And the third vote was to create a committee of students, teachers, athletic department officials and other interested parties within the town to come up with designs for a new logo over the space of about a year. This motion passed 4-0-1, but not without more confusion -- and the puzzling suggestion by one particularly agonized member that said committee could still come up with designs that included Native American imagery. The previous vote clearly prohibited all future uses of ANY Native American imagery, not just the ripped-off version of the Redskins' old logo that adorned Foxboro football helmets since 1983, but that one member just didn't seem to get it.

Of course, a future school board could vote to rescind that ban -- and brother, what a can of worms that would open.

I will refrain from too much personal comment here for several reasons, not the least of which include the fact that I haven't been a Foxboro resident since 2015, and that I still work for Foxboro Cable Access, occasionally announcing girls' basketball games. But I will say without hesitation that I believe that from start to finish, the Foxboro school board has handled the issue very poorly -- and on Tuesday, the members' inability to express themselves clearly and understand the actions they were in the process of taking achieved little more than to further infuriate those in attendance that weren't going to be satisfied unless the board totally capitulated to their demands to keep the Redskins' logo.

Maybe they felt intimidated. I believe at least three members of the board (no names here; no need to point fingers) were clearly intimidated by what they must have perceived as a hostile crowd. But it still amazes me that two members clearly did not understand the votes they were taking and how each vote affected the others in turn. 

As it stands, I believe Foxboro has done the right thing. The board essentially voted to disassociate "Warriors" from the Native American imagery. That is important, because if the state legislature ever passes a bill banning all native imagery for school nicknames, mascots and logos (as New York and Maine have), Foxboro can argue that "Warriors" is merely a name and not a characterization of the indigenous peoples.

This could suffice for a while.

The plan is not to rip the logos off the helmets of the football team before Friday's game against Stoughton. Logos would be replaced as the items upon which they appear need to be replaced or refurbished. The helmet logos would remain through this season, and then disappear before next season. The athletic department has already been using a stylized blue and gold "F" to represent itself in just about all necessary uses of a logo, and that could be slapped on the helmets (decals aren't too expensive) until someone comes up with something better.

The logo on the gym floor would probably be removed during that floor's next refinishing. And at present, as it was said during the meeting, the hand-me-down uniforms of the JV girls' tennis team are the only FHS uniforms that still have the logo on them. Signage around the schools will be replaced as needed. And the championship banners in the gym might not be replaced for a very long time, if ever -- after all, most of Walpole's old banners still say "Rebels" on them (except field hockey, as those teams are called "Porkers"), and there is no move afoot to replace those banners. New ones in Walpole will say Timberwolves. New banners in Foxboro can still say "Warriors." 

And yes, it is a good move to get the community involved in designing a new logo -- if residents remain up in arms about losing a logo that wasn't of their own design in the first place. But under no circumstances should that committee dare to consider anything remotely related to Native American culture. That's just a one-way ticket to further division in the community and possible punitive action by the state down the road.

I'll say it again, the Foxboro school board should have done exactly what King Philip Regional High School did. They simply made the decision to sever ties to Native American imagery and remove all semblance of it from public view. And that's not easy for a school district that was named after the late-1600s chief of the Wampanoags, Metacomet, who changed his name to "King Philip" to appease English settlers.

This year's KP football helmets no longer have the feathered spear logo on the sides, and hardly anyone noticed. I still think KP might eventually be in a world of hurt at some point if the legislature comes down upon any form of Native American imagery, because nothing is more native than naming the entire school district after a tribal chief. And I won't even bring up King Philip's War.

I guess you can say that in KP's case, it seemed like a good idea back in 1958. 

So was it for Foxboro in 1983 when Jack Martinelli chose the Redskins' logo as a way of dressing up his football team's helmets. But times change. This is 2023. And despite all the crying and gnashing of teeth over lost logos that will characterize the community in the weeks and months to come, it won't change the march of time.

In the meantime, and hopefully for a long time to come, "Go Warriors!"