On July 13, a Facebook post was made in the Brewster Southeast parents page alluding to the fact that the Brewster Central School District was changing its logo from the traditional and long used Brewster Bear icon to what the school district called a multicultural, inclusive logo that better represents their new strategic initiative and slogan of "Success for a Changing World" the Facebook post quickly drew the ire of the community with well over 200 comments, mostly negative, regarding the change.
Early on July 14th, Brewster Hamlethub contacted the Superintendent of Schools, Valerie Hennings-Piedmonte, via email, who replied that an e-backpack statement would be put out within the hour regarding the proposed logo. That statement did go out approximately two hours later with the superintendent's remarks explaining it was designed by a committee of 19 individuals comprising School District employees, educators, administrators and several local residents and that is was only a proposed change and it would be discussed further at the Board of Education's August 22nd meeting.
Over this past weekend Brewster Hamlethub has learned that almost 24 hours prior to that statement the superintendent of schools sent a email to all BCSD staff advising them that the new logo had been approved by the Board of Education at its meeting on Tuesday, July 11 and that the familiar Brewster Bear logo will only be used for athletic events and on sports apparel.
The Facebook post mentioned earlier, now has over 400 comments and is urging the community to come out on August 22nd to the Board of Education meeting and voice their opinion on the matter. That same post is also asking people to type their name in the comment section as a signature on a petition to keep the Brewster Bear logo and to drop the proposed/adopted logo immediately.
As of publication of this article the Superintendent's office has not returned Brewster Hamlethub's request for a statement regarding the discrepancy in her e-backpack statement of July 14 and her email to the BCSD employees 24 hours earlier.
The next Board of Education meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 22 at 6:30 PM. A Facebook event has been created by the Brewster/Southeast Parents' Facebook page.