Should the middle school and the high school share the same colors?
Yes, says school board chairman Kenneth Marcucio.
No, say middle school administrators — and students.
The colors issue has been percolating in Derby for a few months. Click here for our previous story.
It came up again at Thursday night’s Board of Education meeting.
Marcucio, a former Derby athletic director, wants the board to adopt an official policy stating the colors at the high school and middle school are red, white and a no more than 20 percent black.
He said the two schools share a campus — and athletic uniforms often get handed down from the high school to the middle school.
Marcucio worries that without an official policy, a coach — or principal — could come along and use any colors they wanted.
Marcucio also notes that the school board had no say over the colors inside the new middle school, which opened Jan. 4. The colors in the new school are red, white — with some blue.
“This is campus. They really should have the same colors,” Marcucio said.
Click here for a Q&A with the school board chairman.
However, middle school principal Sally Bonina and assistant principal Matt Bradshaw urged the school board to let the individual schools set the rules about colors.
“They (the middle school students) should not be made to feel they are just an extension of the high school,” she said.
Bonina also pointed out the middle school students were once called the “blue middies,” when the school was at another location.
Bradshaw said he polled the middle school students.
He said 113 students want red, white and blue while 68 students want red and white.
School board member Martin Hubbard seemed to side with the middle school administrators. He said he would support an official color scheme at the high school, but perhaps not the middle school.
Joseph DiMartino, a member of the Board of Aldermen and a Derby coach, said the middle school and the high school should both be red and white.
The Red Raiders are red and white, DiMartino said.
“I am a firm believer that Derby is red and white and that’s what it should be,” he said.
The board did not take action on the proposed school colors policy. Instead, they tabled it for another month in order to hear feedback from the community.
