I am disappointed by the Brunswick School Board’s decision to throw out the results of the Coffin Elementary School mascot election. It’s not like the students picked the rainbow unicorn or Pikachu to be the mascot of the new Kate Furbish Elementary School. No. They were given three choices: the dragonfly, the bumblebee and the chickadee. In an election with reportedly high voter turnout (and no indications of fraud or foreign interference), the students quite sensibly picked the chickadee by an overwhelming majority. The School Board, though, overrode that vote and selected the dragonfly, apparently in order to “unify” the mascots of the Brunswick schools. What kind of message does this send to our children? That elections are rigged and you shouldn’t bother voting because your vote won’t make a difference? How about if instead we restore the election results and send a message about the value of democracy, the virtues of civic engagement, and that every vote matters? That seems a lot more important than whatever reason the School Board had for thinking its mascot choice was better than that of the kids.
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