One High School's Insane Quest to make students print 'Redskins' [View all]

[n2doc]

On the morning of June 13, Neshaminy High School Principal Robert McGee scooted around campus confiscating copies of the school paper, the Playwickian, before they could get into his students' hands. The effort was futile. He claimed he only collected about 40 copies out of 5,000. It was the slapstick culmination of a months-long battle between McGee and the editors of the Playwickian over the paper's decision to stop printing the name of Neshaminy's sports teams: the Redskins.

The plight of the student editors, who've been subjected to a legal and administrative battle that's cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars with a goal of forcing the paper to print a school mascot name understood to be racist by both media outlets and the FCC alike, has captured national attention. NPR, the Washington Post, Keith Olbermann, Think Progress, and numerous other outlets have reported on the proceedings.

The response from school board and administrators alike has been opaque—no comment; not to press, not to parents, not to students, their lawyer, or even to the paper's advisor. Then, last week, Neshaminy school board member Stephen Pirritano broke his silence in an email to VICE Sports. What he wrote indicates a thorough, coordinated effort to bully the student paper into using the word "Redskins."

On September 10, 2013, a Neshaminy High School parent, Donna Boyle, filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Rights Commission (PHRC) over the team's mascot name. More than a year later, the complaint has yet to be resolved.

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https://sports.vice.com/article/one-high-schools-insane-quest-to-make-students-print-redskins