Dear Port Jervis Community:
After consulting with many people in our schools and community as well as alumni around the country, we have decided not to select a new team name at this time. Here are some reasons for this decision:
- None of the suggested new names had a high level of support in the student voting.
- Emotions are still raw regarding the state education department's (SED) decision.
- Our state legislators are trying to help change this because it was a SED regulation, not a law.
- There are current lawsuits on this topic.
Our teams will no longer be called the Raiders as of June 30, 2025, to avoid jeopardizing our approximately $65 million in annual state aid. We just won't select a new team name at this time.
A common-sense approach would have been to allow schools to keep their team names and require them to eliminate any Native American/Indigenous symbols or imagery. We hope this will happen in the future.
We will keep you posted with any new information that becomes available. Thank you for your supPORT of Port Jervis Schools.
With Port Pride,
John J. Bell, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
& PJHS Class of 1985