After careful planning and consideration, the Fonda-Fultonville Central School District is introducing a link for our community to provide suggestions for a new mascot name for the district. The link will be available from Monday, May 22 through Friday, June 23. You can find the link here.
In addition, this link will be shared with our school community on the district’s ParentSquare communication platform, through social media accounts, and with the Amsterdam Recorder and Leader-Herald to ensure the rest of our community is involved in our process. Please share this information with family and friends within the Fonda-Fultonville Central School District and alumni. If you cannot open or access this voting link, the district will have mascot suggestion forms available at the district office.
After we compile the suggestions, the results will be reviewed and narrowed down by multiple stakeholder groups during the 2023-24 school year. The final list of names will be voted on by our entire community once this work is complete. If you are interested in being a part of this group please contact the district office (518) 853-3332 ext. 4230. The newly selected mascot name will be in place for the 2024-25 school year. During the 2023-2024 school year our athletic teams will simply be called Fonda-Fultonville.
Additional Resources for Review
New York State Education Department FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions
The following communication was shared with the FFCS school community on May 12.
NYSED Decision on School Mascots; What it Means for FFCS
On Tuesday, April 18, the state Board of Regents unanimously voted to approve a measure requiring schools with Native American mascots, imagery, or logos to remove them from use in their districts. This regulation became official on May 3, 2023. For FFCS, this means we will no longer be able to use the Braves name and any Native American imagery. As a district, we have worked within the parameters of the Board of Regents’ requirements to seek permission to retain the Braves name as we shared back in March. At that time FFCS was told that we would not be allowed to use the name Braves or any variation of this word and that we should comply with the new regulation parameters and timeline as we rebrand.
The following are key takeaways and timelines associated with this regulation and the comments responded to by the Board of Regents after their vote on April 18. That document can be found here.
The following language was provided related to the state’s regulation on our timeframe to eliminate the use of Braves: “Boards of education must commit, via resolution, to eliminating the use of all Indigenous names, logos, and mascots by the end of the 2022-23 school year. Such resolution shall identify a plan to eliminate all use of the prohibited name, logo, or mascot within a reasonable time, which shall be no later than the end of the 2024-2025 school year.”
With respect to an appeals process, the regulation places “the responsibility of eliminating Indigenous team names, logos, or mascots on local school boards. There is no appeals process. Therefore, it is the responsibility of each school board to determine the applicability of the regulation and ensure their district’s compliance. If a school district refuses to take action, the Department will notify the school district to attempt to achieve compliance. The Department anticipates that school districts will cooperate in good faith. If that cannot be accomplished, the statutory means of enforcement will include removal of school officers and withholding of state aid” (this amounts to approximately $13 million for FFCS).