The decision by the Radnor School Board to abandon the name and mascot the “Radnor Raider” is no longer a local story.
The New York Times on Wednesday (June 30) published a 3,000-word article about the board’s decision, and the pushback it’s gotten from some students, alumni and members of the community.
The Times story leads by telling us that –
This affluent 340-year-old township of 31,000 residents on the Main Line has long been a bastion of gentility and geniality. “The Philadelphia Story,” that arch drawing-room comedy starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn, was set in Radnor, and its public high school served as the inspiration for Rydell High in the film version of “Grease,” directed by a 1964 graduate, Randal Kleiser.
A Community Divided
The controversy has revealed long-simmering conflicts within the constituency: Republicans vs. Democrats; longtime residents vs. transplants; whites vs. people of color; blue collar vs. white collar; even jocks vs. nerds. And it has brought out the high-school student in everyone involved, with name calling, finger pointing, public shaming and lawn sign stealing.
“We didn’t divide this community,” Susan Stern, the president of the school board, said during a virtual special meeting on the subject in May. “We revealed the divide.” – The times wrote.
The story about “Radnor Raidor” ran again on Sunday (July 4) in the New York Times Style Section
Let me say this, there was no divide in our community until this started thank you Radnor. Township school board along with maya van Rossum her daughter and David Woods and Radnor for reform what a shame