Coach Propheter, who is a part of the boys football staff at Jamestown in the fall, has taken the reigns of the girls flag team. He discusses their week one victory, getting acclimated to the rule book, and the impact he wants to leave.

Jamestown Schools Budget and Finance Director Brittnay Spry presents preliminary 2023-24 Budget to the Jamestown School Board (March 14, 2023)

The proposed $101 million Jamestown Public Schools budget for the 2023-24 school year includes no tax increase and the hiring of 18 new teachers.

District Director of Budget and Finance Brittnay Spry presented the budget to the board of education at a workshop Tuesday. Total projected revenues come in at $101,419,866. Spry said Foundation Aid increased by $9.5 million, for total state aid funding of $83,706,514.

Capital expenditures of $2 million are being proposed to continue HVAC work at Persell Middle School, replacing the scoreboard at Strider Field, reburbishing the tracks at Persell and Washington Middle Schools, and creating a new health center at Washington Middle School. Changes to remove the “Red Raiders” nickname from campuses is also included in capital expenditures.

Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker said the budget is focused on helping students with English and Math skills with the creation of student support centers, “For example, at the middle schools and high school you would have two full time teachers, one ELA certified, one math certified, potentially special ed certified as well, with paraprofessionals. In a student support environment, students who are in need of AIS, which is Academic Intervention Services, can go and get that extra help needed in intervention in math and ELA and continue to catch up while they’re not missing any of their regular classes.”

Whitaker said at the elementary level, the focus will be on reading intervention with two full-time reading teachers being added to each elementary school.

If approved by the school board, voters also will vote on funding a new Capital Improvement Reserve Fund with up to $5 million. Whitaker said that fund is to help hedge against costs to taxpayers for future construction projects, “I do want to clarify, while the cap, the size of it may be $5 million, it doesn’t necessarily mean that $5 million goes into it right now. It just means we can only add a total of $5 million over the course of the next few years and then use it as it’s appropriate and needs to be taken out.”

The school board is expected to vote on budget resolutions at its March 28 meeting with the budget vote coming before the public on Tuesday, May 16, 2023.

WRFA’s Collin Wood takes a look at High School Sports, with recaps and previews for the 2022 High School Football Season in Chautauqua County – along with interviews featuring local coaches and also a report on the Buffalo Bills.

WRFA High School Sports Correspondent Collin Wood talks with Jamestown Varsity Football Coach Tom Langworthy to get an update on the Red Raider Football team at the midway point of the 2022 season.

Listen to “Knock on Wood” with Collin Wood – a weekly HS Sports report focusing on Jamestown and the Chautauqua Region – every Friday at 7:45 a.m. on WRFA-LP’s Small Things Considered morning show.

Tom Langworthy

WRFA High School Sports Correspondent Collin Wood talks with Jamestown Varsity Football Coach Tom Langworthy to preview the upcoming 2022 season.

Listen to “Knock on Wood” with Collin Wood – a weekly HS Sports report focusing on Jamestown and the Chautauqua Region – every Friday at 7:45 a.m. on WRFA-LP’s Small Things Considered morning show.

Tom Langworthy

The new mascot is a nod to JHS history as the first mascot appeared in 1948 as a red, big cat. The Jamestown Board of Education voted to keep the name, “Red Raiders,” at their July 2021 meeting.

School Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker said the process over changing the mascot started over 8 years ago when the Seneca Nation of Indians asked the district to reconsider the imagery being used. He said a committee was formed of students, coaches, teachers, and community members, “And we asked them to engage in the process whereby they learned about the Seneca Nation. They were very open and accepting, invited us to come see their museum and cultural center, and provided us with guided tours which were very helpful and across those conversations the members of the committee said it was time for change.”

Board President Paul Abbott said he was very excited that the mascot change has gone through, especially with this process starting in 2014, “When we did make the decision to finally remove all of the native imagery. And when we did that we knew that some day we would look to do something new for a mascot and you know, honestly, just from a student standpoint I’m excited for our students that we have a new mascot to rally behind and continue on as the Red Raiders just as we always have.”

360 Graphics designed the new JHS mascot with input from the Mascot committee. After the committee endorsed the new mascot, the district had a trademark attorney do a search to make sure that the new logo and mascot was not an infringement on any other existing logos or mascots. The imagery passed this process.

The new mascot imagery can be viewed on the Jamestown Public Schools website at jpsny.org

Justin Hubbard, Missy Paterniti

Jamestown City Council voted down Mayor Eddie Sundquist‘s citizen appointments to the Board of Public Utilities as well as the reappointment of Justin Hubbard to the Human Rights Commission.

City Clerk Jennifer Williams read a letter from the Human Rights Commission advocating for Hubbard’s reappointment, “We feel it is our duty to try to convey to our elected representatives how much we value Mr. Hubbard and the ideas, thoughtfulness, and passion that he brings to our group. As a teacher, he brings a point of view regarding education that helps us better understand and address human rights issues in our schools.”

Resident Missy Paterniti spoke out against Hubbard being reappointed, saying he publicly attacked her at an HRC meeting by calling her a racist and a bigot in response to her creating a petition to the school district to keep the “Red Raiders” name, “I contacted Elliot Raimondo [City Corporation Counsel] and nothing happened. I wrote to the mayor. And I’m just asking you, as the city council, that have the ability to remove this gentleman from the commission, please do so because he doesn’t belong there.”

Hubbard, speaking at privilege of the floor, said he was approached by Mayor Sundquist following rallies he helped organize after George Floyd‘s death in 2020 about serving on a reinstated Human Rights Commission. Hubbard said while on the HRC, he was approached by members of the community regarding issues on discrimination in relation to religion, race, and sexuality, “Even though I knew that some of these complaints were about members of council and that would make some members of this council unhappy with me for bringing them to the table, I knew that it was my duty to do so. I also believe that the passion I brought to this position made it so that people could feel free to contact me when dealing with very stressful issues.”

Council voted 2 to 6 not to reappoint Hubbard with Brent Sheldon, Marie Carrubba, Andrew Faulkner, Kim Ecklund, Randy Daversa, and Jeff Russell voting no.

The appointment of Sean Conner and Sabrina Gustafson to the BPU Board to replace Jim Olson and Greg Rabb failed 4 to 4 with Brent Sheldon, Andrew Faulkner, Kim Ecklund, and Randy Daversa voting no.

Council President Tony Dolce said while he supported the appointments to the BPU board, he doesn’t know why other council members did not but he guessed it may have come down to qualifications, “In the past, there’s always been a kind of.. not going to say controversy but discussion over replacing long time members that have experience with newcomers. And this mayor wanted to put his people in just like the previous mayor did as well. And so I don’t know specifically why those two individuals were voted down by specific council people.”

Jim Olson and Greg Rabb will remain on the BPU board as holdovers until new appointments can be made.

Ben Drake with JPS Mascot Proposal

The Jamestown School Board will be discussing the proposed new mascot and logo at its meeting tonight.

The mascot committee presented a proposal by 360 Graphics to change the high school’s mascot and logo to a “big cat” at the December 7 meeting of the board. This logo will replace the “J with a feather” that’s been used since 2014, which replaced the caricature of a Native American.

The board also will vote on a contract agreement with the Jamestown Educational Support Personnel Association. The agreement extends the terms and conditions of the Collective Bargaining Agreement from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2025.

The School Board meeting takes place at 6:00 p.m. in the Board Room of the Administration Building on Martin Road. It is open to the public.

Human Rights Commission member and Jamestown Justice Coalition organizer Justin Hubbard expressed frustration by the lack of response from the school board following a unanimous statement from the city committee recommending the district change both the mascot and the “Red Raider” name. He said in by voting to change the mascot, the board admits that what the district had done for decades was racist, “That is what you’ve admitted by saying that needs to be changed. It’s been changed before. I don’t understand why now we’re still doing half-measures and you refuse to go to the finish line when it comes to this. You cannot disassociate the name ‘Red Raiders’ with the horrible caricature that was there when I was in high school. You cannot do that.”

Autumn Dahlgren said the board needs to do its due diligence to change the name, “It is impossible to separate the name and the imagery and expect this to have a meaningful impact on our relationship with our Seneca neighbors. In one of numerous conversations with representatives of the Seneca Nation over the past year and a half, one person stated that ‘removing the imagery and keeping the name would be as if we stopped turning the knife in their back but never actually pulled it out.'”

Student Ex-Officio School Board Member and JHS Senior Annika Spitzer said Jamestown High School has many beautiful traditions but the name is not one, “I just feel like a student’s voice needs to be heard in this. And I think it would be beautiful for us to take a new step in the right direction. And instead of holding on, or clinging onto something that just doesn’t need to stay, I think this would be an awesome opportunity for us to progress, to set an example for everyone else to finally join the pack of making good change.”

School Board Member Pat Slagle said he thinks a conversation on the issue can continue, “I think as the committee moves forward with deciding what the new logo should be, I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility that we also continue to discuss the name and what that may look like. Especially if there’s movement at the high school that they no longer feel that that name represents who they are and who they want to be. I think it warrants further discussion.”

Slagle invited the Human Rights Commission and Jamestown Justice Coalition to be part of any of those conversations going forward.

The resolution gave the approval to the District to hire a graphic designer and a trademark attorney for a logo and mascot redesign as well as approved discontinuing the use of the “J with the feathers” on school buildings and athletic fields, and to replace all uniforms provided by the school with the imagery. School Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker said the “J” on the back of Jamestown High School will be changed as part of the planned capital projects while a number of uniforms have already been replaced at the modified level.

Board member Nina Karbacka had made the motion to change the name of “Red Raiders,” “I feel that though that name had historically not represented Native Americans, it has represented Native Americans for 50 years and is very closely associated with that. And I feel that our board and school system has a strong feeling of inclusivity and respect for our students and that name does not reflect that.”

Board President Paul Abbott said he supports keeping the “Red Raiders” name as it’s been in use since the 1940s, “I look to what the origins were that our committee brought forward to us. That we were the Red and Green Raiders, that we previously had a panther as our logo, that it was shortened to Red Raiders. It is unfortunate, hindsight being 20-20, that it evolved the way that it did.”

Board member Pat Slagle said when changing the mascot was being discussed in 2014, the idea of changing the name of “Red Raiders” was brought up, “At that time we didn’t have the research or history of the committee working, so I was torn of the same idea. Red Raiders – Do we keep that name? Is it based on Native American imagery or connotations? And I think Coach Drake came forward with some evidence dating back to the ’40s and that helped convinced me that the name is not tied to Native American imagery.”

Board member Joe Pawelski, who sat on the Mascot committee, said they’ll be seeking community, faculty, and student input on what the new logo and mascot should be.

The Jamestown School Board also swore in Frank Galeazzo as one of its new members and Nina Karbacka as a returning member at its Reorganizational Meeting Thursday. Paul Abbott was once again selected as Board President.

Two new ex-officio student board members were appointed to the school board as well. High School Seniors Madison Arthurs and Annika Spitzer will serve now until June 30, 2022.

The Board also approved combining the Boys’ Swimming team with Falconer High School and the Girls’ Swimming Team with Southwestern High School. Jamestown High School will be the host for the combined Boys swimming team while Southwestern will be the host for the combined Girls swimming team.