CLAUDETTE CLARK:    She stated that her daughter was an Indianette and the pride and spirit for the students and District will be there with or without the name and logo.  She supported CHANGING THE NAME AND LOGO

   MICHAEL MARK:  He stated that changing the name and/or logo will not diminish Nyack’s pride in it’s students or schools...it is in everyone’s best interest to change it. Knowing how difficult that will be for the community, he was willing to keep the Indian name and CHANGE THE LOGO

  BRYAN BURRELL: He recommended FORMALLY ELIMINATING THE LOGO

  DON HAMMOND:   He personally feels that both the NAME AND LOGO SHOULD BE ELIMINATED, and others created that better represent Nyack’s pride, but believes the community is not ready for that decision. Thus he voted for THE ELIMINATION OF THE LOGO

  VIC CZAJKOWSKI: He stressed that board members were elected to represent the community. 77% of the High School students who voted said to keep both and only 16% said to eliminate both and 11% to compromise. The Commissioners statement said to resolve this locally and to study the issue with consensus from school community. There was no reference for all others to be part of the discussion. There is historical reference to the Nyack Indians. He supported KEEPING THE INDIAN NAME AND LOGO

DR. FLETCHER JOHNSON: He said this was a complicated Board made up of different, distinct people with different backgrounds, such as the rest of the community. There are twenty thousand people that the Board has not heard from. He feels that the Indian was never used here in a derogatory manner and we are held hostage by things that happened centuries ago. HE ABSTAINED

  PIERRE DAVIS: ...he doesn’t see what is offensive about the name and logo and when race is used to intimidate or incite the point is missed. ...Our children are proud of the name. HE SUPPORTED KEEPING BOTH

Click to read: NYS Department of Ed: Commissioner's letter was NOT a DIRECTIVE

 Not these Native American Indians! They proudly chose to use this image of  a red-faced Indian adorned with face paint and a feather headdress, (feathers in "up" position), all symbolic images that our community was told were disrespectful to ALL Native Americans.

Click other school links below!

School Boards, What and Why?   What stands out  in this article, from the California  School Board Association , is that they see the job of school board members as "providing leadership and REPRESENTING THE COMMUNITY'S INTERESTS..."

Nyack's Indian Usage Committee position statements:  Nyack's unbalanced Indian usage committee presented the school board with 3 different position statements, there was never consensus among committee members, nor was there consensus among board members.

Nyackschools.com/reports/policy/2000.pdf  Go to page 6 and read where Nyack's policy states that board members should "represent the entire community without fear or favor" and policy also states "recognizing that the strength of the school board is in acting as a board, not as individuals."

Nyackschools.com/reports/policy/1000.pdfk  NPS policy regarding placement of propositions on the ballot (after clicking link, go to Page 3, section 1050) Why were our petitions denied?

NPS Board Meeting Minutes 3/20/04:  These are the minutes of meeting during which the yearbook ad was denied. Why was our ad censored?

Nyackschools.com/reports/policy/2000.pdf   NPS policy regarding executive sessions (after clicking link, go to page 41, section 2330) Is asking the school board why it was discriminating against our organization by denying placement of our ad in their yearbook really a reason for executive session?

NY State Department of Education "Sensitivity Guidelines for discussing Native Americans."   OPEN AND GO TO PAGE 7.   These sensitivity guidelines are provided for teachers by the NYS Department of Education. The guidelines state "don't lump ALL INDIANS (emphasis ours) together...", yet isn't that exactly what was done in order to claim ALL INDIANS were offended by Indian names and images?

 Thinking of becoming a School Board Member?

YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE AN EDUCATOR OR

POSSESS ANY SPECIAL DEGREE

TO BECOME A SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER

Qualifications are:

                                                            1. A citizen of the United States

                                                2.  At least 18 years of age 

                                                    3. Able to read and write 

                                                   4. A qualified voter of the district

                                                   5.  A resident of the school district for at least                                                           one year prior to election

Nyack's Policy regarding school board member qualifications (go to page 15 section 2121)