Published: 1/6/2021 5:25:19 PM
Modified: 1/6/2021 5:25:08 PM
SOUTH DEERFIELD — Frontier Regional School will be getting new uniforms for its basketball, football and soccer teams, thanks to a $4,000 donation from Yankee Candle Co.
Principal George Lanides called the donation “a wonderful thing,” and noted the new uniforms will be designed with a different logo.
“There’s still a Native American feather for the ‘F’ on our uniform,” he said. “We’re trying to eliminate that racist iconography.”
Lanides explained that the school’s mascot used to be the Redskins. In 1998, the Redskins became the Redhawks in acknowledgement of the history of the word as a racist slur, according to the school newspaper, The Redhawk Report.
The logo itself has changed over time, Lanides said, noting there have been four or five different versions of it.
The new design will be chosen through a student contest the school is hosting.
“We’re in the final stages,” he said. “So it’s going to be revealed relatively soon.”
Yankee Candle’s donation comes as an annual gift to the school. The candle company, headquartered on Greenfield Road, also donated $4,000 last year, which was used to fund a new water filtration system.
Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne