Still Saving Our Colonial

By Corinne Hogseth

Thank you to the members of the community who participated in the Braver Angels “debate” on Sunday, May 2 (click here to view a recording). The intent was to “work to heal the divisiveness” that resulted from the School Committee’s ill-considered decision to kill the Colonial mascot that, thanks to a group of students from the late 50s, has represented our high school and our community for over sixty years. I’m grateful to the organizers for raising the issue again, after interest seemed to be waning. What the discussion made abundantly clear was that the community is still deeply divided, with the supporters of the Colonial highly critical of the rushed process that ignored policies and excluded many voices, especially those of the non-school and alumni communities.

KILLING THE COLONIAL & THE AFTERMATH

Even though most people in Acton and Boxborough were not aware of the effort to kill the Colonial until after it occurred, many more members of the community are now well-aware of the rupture in our community caused by the School Committee’s rushed decision. This was exacerbated after a “zoom bomb” during the December 17^th School Committee meeting was immediately attributed to supporters of keeping the mascot. Superintendent Peter Light issued a statement the next day accusing a member of the “Save the Colonials” group of “insinuating that the incident was intentionally constructed by one of its very targets.” This is the post to which he referred (page 83 of Item 2 from the public records request released on April 30, 2021):

“This sudden event seemed eerily coincidental and advantageous to their desire to keep their decision. It pushes the narrative that is currently being shown in the posts and comments. They were not even speaking about the mascot, yet these comments suddenly appeared in their chat, and one of the first things in her response had to do with the mascot. Her response was emotionally-charged and very much spiteful itself. You may think it is warranted, given the nature of the comments, but she has shown that this is her M.O. and has exhibited these kinds of responses in the past.

There is entirely too much connection being made between the name of our school and random acts of hate/Zoom-bombs. Racism is a horrible thing, but so too is falsely accusing people of it.

So, I reiterate, there is zero connection between wanting to keep our Colonial history/mascot and this Zoom-bomber.”

This comment was in reference to the strong reaction (to put it kindly) of one of the School Committee members, in which she immediately referenced their decision to kill the Colonial. Nowhere does this AB alum suggest that anyone on the School Committee or even anyone in our town was behind the zoom bomb. What he stated is factually correct – the timing and nature of the zoom bomb was “advantageous” to their position on killing the Colonial with the justification that it represented so-called systemic racism in our community. According to records now available, Superintendent Peter Light actually wanted to bring in this individual for some sort of interrogation.

When School Committee member Angie Tso questioned the drafted statement that was sent to the school community on December 18^th, which she considered too quick to blame without any evidence, Peter Light responded with this (Item 2 page 84):

“Angie,

Thank you for sharing this. I agree that we want to create an environment that values a variety of perspectives. Unfortunately, what we saw in the meeting, and from a member of the “save the colonial” group after the meeting on facebook, goes beyond honoring perspectives and was a hostile environment. I am copying a facebook post from one of the mascot groups’ members below that is overtly blaming Evelyn as inciting the issue with intention. We will be responding strongly to this and will speak to the tenor of the group that is creating an environment where this is becoming normalized. This is, quite frankly, disgusting behavior on the part of this individual speaking for a group.”

I am happy to talk more, but wanted to be honest about our response to this.

Peter”

Angie’s reply (Item 2 page 84):

And Peter Light’s final reply in this exchange (Item 2 page 82):

“Angie,

Thank you and I am happy to speak with you to clarify why our leadership team felt so strongly about this. To our point, his entire message was about the removal of the colonial, the public records request, and making a point that this incident was coincidentally timed to the public comments around the comments he made as a reference to Evelyn and this being her MO. I would very much be interested in learning more about you don’t believe this wasn’t linked as well to deepen my understanding.

I will ask Beth to set up a meeting with you, Tessa and I.

Thanks again,

Peter”

It is quite clear that Peter Light immediately believed that a member of the Save Our Colonials group was responsible for the zoom bomb and would not back down from making this unfounded accusation public.

During the December 18^th meeting of the Acton Board of Selectmen, Jim Snyder-Grant said he “wasn’t surprised” because he’d “heard about the kind of comments that came out, especially during the mascot discussion with the School Committee. So I knew there were a lot of people making racially charged and racist statements.”

David Martin continued to push this narrative that the Save Our Colonials effort inspired the zoom bomb, saying he felt sorry “especially the children in our schools that have to live with people who would make such remarks.” He went on to claim “these individuals have been egged on by the anti-School Committee sentiment of those mostly white men trying to reinstate the mascot.”

THE INVESTIGATION

The Acton Police Department investigated the incident, and on January 14, Superintendent Peter Light issued a statement to the school community letting us all know that the Acton Police Department had “identified a juvenile male in Arizona as a suspect” and were continuing to investigate.

These findings should have precipitated immediate statements from the Superintendent, school committee and other various board members, apologizing for their rush to judgement, their accusations of racism against Colonial supporters, and for the wedge they created in the community by rushing through the vote to kill the Colonial and widened with unfounded and verifiably false accusations regarding the zoom bomb.

The opposite occurred.

They doubled down.

While reviewing drafts of the January 14^th statement to the community about the results of the police investigation, there was no suggestion of remorse for their rush to judgement and explicitly calling out members of the community. Instead, they wordsmithed the statement to perpetuate their own belief (e.g., bias) that racism is a crisis in Acton-Boxborough as explained by a School Committee member’s email to the Superintendent (Item 2 page 20):

“Hi Peter,

Thanks for sharing the draft with me. The only thing I will add is a sentence to the effect that this finding does not mean we do not have issues of race in this community we need to work through. Void of the zoom bombing, we have had incidents happen in AB, and I want us to acknowledge that. I am worried, if we don’t we will slip back to the narrative that “there is no racism in AB”. Just connected with Kyra and she agrees and is happy to help edit. I am too. Thanks, Evelyn”

On the Acton Select Board, neither Jim Snyder-Grant nor David Martin offered a retraction or an apology to mascot supporters or even the community in general for their verifiably false accusations. When asked to retract his statement that the Zoom bomb had anything to do with the dispute over the handling of the vote to remove the mascot, David Martin dug his heels in, standing behind his original words, saying during the January 25^th meeting (~42:30):

“I stand by those statements and I’m happy to reread my comments of 18 December, if there is any confusion.“

He went on to say Colonial supporters were “harassing” the School Committee, when in fact they were exercising their constitutional right to voice criticism of the actions and decisions made by public officials.

The actual police report was not released for another two months, and only after a citizen’s public record request. It was then that we learned the juvenile had admitted to randomly selecting the zoom meeting and dropping in vulgar language into the chat feature.

In spite of the claims from members of the School Committee, Select Board and Superintendent, no one has said there are no racists in Acton, Boxborough or any other community anywhere on earth. But does it define our community? No, it does not. If you listen only to the woke, illiberal left, which consists mostly of “white allies” who currently seem to dominate the narrative – at least on social media.

WHERE DO THINGS STAND NOW?

The School Committee and administration are 100% culpable for creating the division in Acton and Boxborough. To this day, not one member of our School Committee, the Acton Select Board or the Superintendent has retracted any statement or issued an apology for falsely linking Colonial supporters to the December 17^th Zoom bomb.

We’re not holding our breath. And we haven’t given up.

Many may be unaware of efforts by a group of folks who have not let the issue die. The group has been dubbed the “Save the Colonials group”, ironically, by those who wanted to kill the Colonial. We’ve never referred to ourselves as such, but we’ll happily accept that moniker, with one minor edit: Save Our Colonial.

We have various reasons for keeping this issue alive, but they boil down to these two: pride in our local history and disgust with the lack of process which lead to the canceling of this symbol of our local history – the name “Colonials”. We still hear from people who ask for signs and ask about the possibility of having the decision reversed. On the first question – YES, we can get you a sign!

On the second question – well, the School Committee Chair – who forced a vote over the objection of four members who requested a delay for more reflection and community input – has insisted that the decision is final. But perhaps not:

1. But no board can bind a future board, so we can bring this up again.
2. Supposedly they plan to let the students (the most transient demographic in town) choose the next mascot. Who’s to say they can’t choose the Colonial?
3. Put a non-binding article on the warrant of a Special Town Meeting requesting the Board of Selectmen put the issue on a ballot. If nothing else, it would make our sentiments known.
4. Legal recourse is a possibility.
5. Booster clubs can get in on the action. Keep ordering items with Colonials emblazoned across them.

There was never any chance the Braver Angels debate would heal anything. It was held more than six months after the fact, offered no final resolution, and even if it had, did not bind the School Committee to any subsequent action. That being said, it is my admittedly biased opinion that those who spoke against the decision to kill the Colonial offered the best arguments. Of course, the other side set a pretty low bar – they focused on feelings and their interpretation of history instead of process, which was the agreed upon debate point. The one anti-Colonial person who did bring up process suggested that the naming policy FF didn’t apply to removing a mascot name, apparently unaware of the fact that it was the School Committee Chair who said the naming policy gave them the right to do so during the October 15^th meeting, and in doing so, exposed one of several fatal flaws in the process.

Personally, I believe the best outcome would be a do-over. Define a solid process. Take the time to include all who have something to contribute to the conversation. Listen. The final decision will not have community support unless it has been arrived at through a process that has the genuine support of the community.

We continue to pore over hundreds of pages of emails, texts and other documents to try to learn more about the flawed process that preceded the vote to kill the Colonial and the handling of the aftermath of the zoom bomb.

If you want to get involved, please let me or another Save Our Colonials crew member know!

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