Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker addresses Jamestown School Board (June 6, 2023)

The Jamestown School Board has approved a plan related to changing the high school’s “Red Raider” nickname.

The New York State Department of Education required the district to submit a plan by June for review and approval by the state.

Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker said the plan is a multi-year process, “I do know that Mr. (Ben) Drake, who is the chair of the (Mascot) Committee, spoke with over the announcements to the high school students today. And there is soon to be, if not already, a survey going out to the staff, to the parents, and to kids around the brainstorming of the name and then the process will follow as detailed in this plan.”

Jamestown Public Schools Proposed Mascot Plan

Whitaker said the Mascot Committee will use public input to narrow down the nickname possibilities and select a new nickname by the end of this calendar year with implementation in the 2024-25 school year.

The board also approved a contract with Armoured One to perform a security vulnerability assessment of all school buildings. The cost of the service is $19,000. Whitaker said the company will begin work this week. Once the assessment is done, a report will be given to the Superintendent, the Safety and Security Committee, as well as the School Board.

The Board recognized outgoing board member Shelly Leathers, who is stepping down after 10 years of service. She was praised for her “no nonsense” work on Finance Committee. The two ex-officio student members, Emylia Hallberg and Aubrey Reynolds, also were recognized for their service to the board.

Jamestown School Board Ex-Officio Student Members Aubrey Reynolds and Emylia Hallberg (March 28, 2023)

Jamestown High School students on the Jamestown School Board expressed concern over safety in schools in the wake of recent stabbings in the city.

Ex-Officio student member Emylia Hallberg said while there is more police support in the school, the students want to see a Safety Committee created to get public input.

The other Ex-Officio student member, Aubrey Reynolds, agreed, “I think a lot of the faculty is concerned for the safety of the students and safety of themselves in general. I mean, they were promised a safety committee earlier this year. Not much action has taken place, so they’d like to see that go forward and so would we. We really care about our school. The recent issues with the fights, all the stabbings, is kind of causing an uneasy feeling in the school.”

Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker said there had seemed to be interest from the community to join a Safety Committee, “But we didn’t get a lot of interest. I reached out to a few people and made some phone calls to say, ‘I heard that you might be interested. Would you like to join?’ People said, ‘Well, sure yeah, ok. Just let me know if that’s a thing.’ But we had very, very few people from outside the district say they would be interested so that was a little disappointing.”

Whitaker said the committee would look at items like ballistics coating on windows, weapons and metal detection; tactical issues, and infrastructure issues. He said while he wanted the community to have a voice, if that doesn’t work out there will be a district-building safety committee at the least.

Following the 13th school shooting in the nation this year, Board President Paul Abbott said more communication is needed of everyone’s concerns. He said he feels the District has safety as a top priority, “I think it’s important that people know and understand what we’re doing. I absolutely agree that it’s really important that everyone has a voice and an opportunity to express their concerns. I guess as far as the Safety Committee geos, that is certainly a great avenue for that.”

Abbott added that if volunteers weren’t interested, he’d still want to see a committee that included people from every school building, bargaining unit, and student representatives.

Board Member Pat Slagle said he thinks it’ll take the community, including a Safety Committee, coming together to figure out the puzzle pieces to eliminate safety issues in the district. He said a lot of investment has been made to secure the schools including the recent over $400,000 investment in a secure vestibule entrance at Persell Middle School, “We have the Red Shirt program. We have the Red Shirts here tonight. SRO’s (School Resource Officers), that’s about $100,000 per SRO. We’ve increased social workers in school. We’ve increased mental health access. We’ve partnerships with the County to provide that. We have new programs to hopefully help reduce incidences of bullies in schools. We continue to reach out to community partners on how we can continue to affect these students who are no longer students, but causing issues in and around the schools.”

Slagle added that the board and district will continue to take all steps needed to keep students and staff safe.

Members of the community who are interested in joining the School District’s Safety Committee may contact that Administrative Offices at 716-483-4350.

Twenty-five Jamestown High School students were eligible for All-
Western New York Scholar Athlete recognition for the fall athletic season after having a grade-point average of 90% or higher.

Twenty-five Jamestown High School students were named All-Western New York Scholar Athletes winners and honorable mentions for the fall athletic season by Section VI.

Eligible students are seniors involved in a fall sport who had a cumulative grade-point average of 90% or higher.

Jamestown Schools Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker said it’s great to have so many students achieve this, “It is challenging, A, to be a teenager in these times; B, to have navigated through the COVID fiasco that we’ve been through the course of the past two years and make a return to school; C, to do all of the outside things that a lot of kids have to do today like jobs and taking care of younger kids; D, to get good grades in school and then also on top of all of that be an outstanding athlete on a varsity team.”

Board President Paul Abbott also recognized the students named as scholar athletes, including the two ex-officio student representatives on the board, Emylia Hallberg and Aubrey Reynolds.

JHS students recognized for their excellence in the classroom were Aric Bloomquist, football; Trey Drake, football; Kylie O’Brien, volleyball; Jacob Smeraldo, boys cross country; and Lindsey Spitz, girls swim team.

Students who received honorable mention recognition included: Brittney Beardsley, girls tennis; Michael Boron, football; Jordan Braymiller, boys soccer; Rylen Coombs, girls volleyball; Emylia Hallberg, girls volleyball; Mercedes Johnson, girls tennis; Quinn Johnson, girls soccer; Kollon Knisley, boys soccer; Brandon Lobb, football; Hannah Lutgen, girls cross country; Colin Melendez, football; Alex Melquist, girls volleyball; Karynne Mims, girls soccer; Aubrey Reynolds, girls volleyball; Celeste Roberts, girls tennis; Kylee Schrader, girls tennis; Evan Sharpe, boys soccer; Julia Smith, girls soccer; John Torres, football; and Kylee Williamson, girls volleyball.

Additionally, seven JHS athletic programs — football, boys and girls Soccer, boys and girls cross country, girls volleyball, and girls tennis — were named New York State Scholar-Athlete teams. Programs are eligible if the cumulative team GPA is 90% or higher during the season.

Aubrey Reynolds and Emylia Hallberg

Two new ex-officio student board members have been appointed to the Jamestown School Board for the 2022-23 school year.

Aubrey Reynolds and Emylia Hallberg are seniors at Jamestown High School. Their term begins July 1, 2022 and ends on June 30, 2023.

The new Student Board of Education representatives are very involved at JHS. Aubrey is a member of Key Club, National Honor Society, Varsity Softball, Volleyball, and Indoor Track. She was also a member of JV Soccer and is very involved in the art program at JHS.

Emylia is a member of Student Council, Student Organization, National Honor Society, A Cappella, Orchestra, Varsity Volleyball, Outdoor Track, and Basketball. She has also been involved with Raider Readers, Mock Trial and the JHS Musical.