By Melanie Petrucci, Senior Community Reporter
Shrewsbury – Dr. Joseph Sawyer, superintendent of Shrewsbury Public Schools, announced in his report at the Dec. 16 School Committee meeting that he had received over 130 applicants for the Shrewsbury High School (SHS) Mascot Ad Hoc Study Group. Because of the increased interest, he noted he was “compelled” to increase each category of the committee to eight members.
The School Committee had decided to form the study group after a petition was submitted to the committee asking that SHS drop the longtime mascot, “The Colonial”. Current and former students, as well as many residents, have shared their opinions, pro and con, with the officials over the past month.
“We are actually going to have eight slots each for students, faculty, staff and administration, parents and alumni so there will be a large committee but given the number of people who are interested and to have a variety of folks with different backgrounds…we thought that was important,” Sawyer stated.
He hopes that by the end of the week he will be able to send notices to those not selected but he stressed that they would have an opportunity to share their thoughts and feedback with the study group.
Those selected to serve will be conducting background research through the end of the month of December and will begin meeting in January.
“[Principal Todd] Bazydlo and I have worked out a schedule to be able to bring a recommendation to the School Committee in March,” Sawyer added.
