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Rebels Vs. Wolves: Mascot Name Change Looms Over South Burlington Budget Vote

A sign encouraging voters to reject the school budget and another to approve it on a lawn in South Burlington. The decision to change the school mascot name has loomed over the budget debate.
Taylor Dobbs
/
VPR
A sign encouraging voters to reject the school budget and another to approve it on a lawn in South Burlington. The decision to change the school mascot name has loomed over the budget debate.

On Tuesday, residents of South Burlington will vote on the local school budget. This will be the third time the city has tried to pass a budget this year, and the vote is tied up in a decision to drop the school district’s mascot name, the Rebels.

South Burlington students have chosen "the Wolves" as their new mascot name to replace the Rebels, but the debate over changing the name continues.

Nicole Higgins DeSmet, a reporter for the Burlington Free Press covering South Burlington and education, spoke with VPR's Henry Epp on the latest in advance of Tuesday's vote.

Listen to their conversation above.

Annie Russell was VPR's Deputy News Director. She came to VPR from NPR's Weekends on All Things Considered and WNYC's On The Media. She is a graduate of Columbia Journalism School.
Henry worked for Vermont Public as a reporter from 2017 to 2023.
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