The Susquehanna Township school board does not have a clear path out of its mascot conundrum after a board meeting that included one member accusing another of physical violence.
Zack Hoopes | zhoopes@pennlive.com
Board member Scott Campbell was attending Monday’s meeting remotely after having accused board member Jesse Rawls of punching him in the restroom during a previous board meeting. Campbell’s phone line was muted by Deitrich at one point Monday night after Campbell began yelling over other participants, and when he was again given the floor, Campbell launched into a tirade against Rawls, against the advice of the board’s attorney, calling him a “criminal” and a “piece of trash.
This leaves Susquehanna schools in their current predicament of not formally having a mascot, despite much of the district’s paraphernalia still displaying the Indian. Roughly a dozen Susquehanna students and alumni attended Monday’s meeting to voice their objection to the board’s action. This argument stems from a survey done at the outset of the mascot discussion that showed 58 percent of respondents preferring to keep the Indian, Campbell said, and he was under the impression that the survey was to be the deciding factor.
Johnson objected to the idea of a “middle ground” regarding a mascot that students widely viewed as racist.