JAMESTOWN, N.Y. — The Jamestown Public Schools board held a meeting Tuesday night. One of the items on the agenda was discussing and deciding to change the school district's mascot.
The 'Red Raiders' were represented by a big cat dating back to the 1940s but by the 70s a Native American caricature was used. Then, that changed in 2014 to be the letter 'J' with feathers, which still references native American culture.
The idea of further changing the mascot was tabled until 2020.
"Everybody genuinely was engaged in arguments, open listening, opinion, and research sometimes. So it was a group that did all of the things that groups do. First, we got together, and then we normed and we stormed and then we started resolving differences and came to a consensus on what people could accept moving forward," Kevin Whitaker, Superintendent of Jamestown Public Schools said.
All Native American imagery has been phased out since 2020 and tonight the board voted to reinstate their big cat, according to the district, student-athletes liked the idea of a modernized big cat.
The new logo was approved at the Monday night meeting.