Paw Paw Public Schools | |
---|---|
Location | |
District information | |
Established | 1870 |
Schools | 6 |
Students and staff | |
Students | 2,300 |
Paw Paw Public Schools (PPPS) is a school district headquartered in Paw Paw, Michigan.
It was established in 1870. As of 2017 [update] it has 2,300 students. [1]
In the fall of the 2019–2020 school year, Paw Paw Public Schools began a popular video series to feature individuals connected to the school district. Called Points of Pride stories, or POP Stories, each video is 3–5 minutes in length and features a student, staff member, or community member talking about his/her connection to Paw Paw schools. The videos are published on the District Facebook page, and several videos have been viewed 8,000 times or more. [2]
Schools across Paw Paw were closed on Monday, March 19, 2018, due to a threat. [3] The threat was reportedly given by a 15-year-old student Aiden Ingalls at the High School, who was arrested after police searched the student's house. [4] All of the schools opened the following day.
On March 9, 2020, Paw Paw Public Schools Board of Education trustees voted to retire the Redskin nickname at the end of 2019–2020 school year. A 27-student task force worked to gather input from students, alumni, and the Paw Paw community, and after a several-month search, announced the new nickname for the school would be the Paw Paw Red Wolves at the July, 2020 meeting of the Board of Education. Paw Paw Athletes, Coaches React to New Red Wolves nickname. The school district will begins the 2020–21 school year as the Paw Paw Red Wolves, the only school with the Red Wolves nickname and logo in the State of Michigan. [5] Paw Paw School District Officially Changes Nickname to 'Red Wolves'; Introduces Logo [6]
On January 21, 2019, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan filed a federal discrimination complaint alleging a racially hostile environment in the Paw Paw Public Schools District. [7] The ACLU reported that it "used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain a substantial number of school district records that betray the widespread racially toxic climate in the schools." [8] In 2017, the district witnessed a controversy involving the removal of "Redskins" as the school mascot name, with the school board of education voting 4–3 to keep the name. [9]
Redskin is a slang term for Native Americans in the United States and First Nations in Canada. The term redskin underwent pejoration through the 19th to early 20th centuries and in contemporary dictionaries of American English it is labeled as offensive, disparaging, or insulting.
Neshaminy High School is a public high school in Middletown Township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the only high school in the Neshaminy School District, serving students in Middletown Township, Lower Southampton Township, Hulmeville, Langhorne, Langhorne Manor, and Penndel. In 2022, the school enrolled 2,677 students in grades 9 through 12. "U.S. News & World Report" ranked the school 117 out of 718 Pennsylvania high schools in 2022.
Swartz Creek Community School District is a public school district in Genesee County in the U.S. state of Michigan and in the Genesee Intermediate School District. The School District serves the City of Swartz Creek, parts of Flint, Flint Charter Township, Gaines Township, Clayton Township, Argentine Township and Village of Lennon even over into Shiawassee County.
Indian Creek High School is a public high school in Wintersville, Ohio. It is the only secondary school in the Indian Creek Local School District. Athletic teams compete as the Indian Creek Redskins in the Ohio High School Athletic Association as a member of the Buckeye 8 Athletic League as well as the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference.
Since the 1960s, the issue of Native American and First Nations names and images being used by sports teams as mascots has been the subject of increasing public controversy in the United States and Canada. This has been a period of rising Indigenous civil rights movements, and Native Americans and their supporters object to the use of images and names in a manner and context they consider derogatory. They have conducted numerous protests and tried to educate the public on this issue.
Michigan Department of Civil Rights is a department of the Michigan State Government created in 1965 to support the work of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission of Michigan's Constitution of 1963. The Commission directs the work of the department and has eight members. The executive director is John E. Johnson, Jr.
The Washington Redskins name controversy involved the name and logo previously used by the Washington Commanders, a National Football League (NFL) franchise located in the Washington metropolitan area. In the 1960s, the team's longtime name—the Redskins—and the associated logo began to draw criticism from Native American groups and individuals. The topic, part of the larger Native American mascot controversy, began receiving widespread public attention in the 1990s. In 2020, the team responded to economic pressure in the wake of widespread recognition of systemic racism by retiring the name and logo. The team called itself the "Washington Football Team" before rebranding as the Commanders in 2022.
Paw Paw High School is a public secondary school in Antwerp Township, Michigan, United States. It serves grades 9-12 for Paw Paw Public Schools.
Kyle Brockton Kalis is an American football guard and center who is currently a free agent. He was selected as a first-team All-American by Sports Illustrated and Parade magazine during his senior year in high school, as well as the number one recruit in Ohio for the class of 2012. He became one of the top recruits in the 2012 college football recruiting class. Kalis played college football for the Michigan Wolverines, where he went on to start 47 games at right guard. He was signed by the Washington Redskins as an undrafted free agent in 2017.
Little Caesars Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Midtown Detroit. Opened on September 5, 2017, the arena, which cost $862.9 million to construct, replaced Joe Louis Arena and The Palace of Auburn Hills as the home of the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA), respectively.
Conrad Schools of Science is a public high school in unincorporated New Castle County, Delaware, United States and has a Wilmington postal address. It opened in 1935 as the Henry C. Conrad High School before closing in 1978 to become the middle school; existing students were bussed to Wilmington High School. It reopened in 2007 as the magnet school Conrad Schools of Science. It is one of seven high schools in the Red Clay Consolidated School District and offers grades six through twelve.
Sports teams named Redskins are part of the larger controversy regarding the use of Native American names, images and symbols by non-native sports teams. Teams of this name have received particular public attention because the term redskin is now generally regarded as disparaging and offensive.
In 2005 the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) distributed a "self evaluation" to its member institutions for teams to examine the use of potentially offensive imagery with their mascot choice. This examination was done in accordance with NCAA policy that requires each member institution to maintain an "atmosphere of respect for and sensitivity to the dignity of every person." Fourteen schools either removed all references to Native American culture or were deemed not to have references to Native American culture as part of their athletics programs. Subsequently, 19 teams were cited as having potentially "hostile or abusive" names, mascots, or images, that would be banned from displaying them during post-season play, and prohibited from hosting tournaments.
The Flint water crisis was a public health crisis that started in 2014 after the drinking water for the city of Flint, Michigan was contaminated with lead and possibly Legionella bacteria. In April 2014, during a financial crisis, state-appointed emergency manager Darnell Earley changed Flint's water source from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to the Flint River. Residents complained about the taste, smell, and appearance of the water. Officials failed to apply corrosion inhibitors to the water, which resulted in lead from aging pipes leaching into the water supply, exposing around 100,000 residents to elevated lead levels. A pair of scientific studies confirmed that lead contamination was present in the water supply. The city switched back to the Detroit water system on October 16, 2015. It later signed a 30-year contract with the new Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) on November 22, 2017.
The use of terms and images referring to Native Americans/First Nations as the name or mascot for a sports team is a topic of public controversy in the United States and in Canada, arising as part of the Native American/First Nations civil rights movements. The retirement of the Washington Redskins and the Cleveland Indians has tipped public opinion in favor of eliminating Native mascots by public school, more states considering or passing legislation to do so, heeding tribal leaders who have advocating for change for decades.
Chase Winovich is an American football defensive end for the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Michigan. As a junior, he was a 2017 first-team (media) and second-team (coaches) All-Big Ten selection. As a senior, he was first-team All-Big Ten and received several second-team All-American recognition. He played outside linebacker and tight end at Michigan before switching to defensive end as a junior. He was drafted by the New England Patriots in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft.
Eli Savit is an American lawyer, law professor, and politician. He is currently serving as the Prosecuting Attorney in Washtenaw County, Michigan. His areas of expertise include civil rights, education law, environmental protection, state and local government, and criminal-justice reform.