PORT TOWNSEND, Wash. — After 88 years of use, a committee has recommended the Port Townsend High School Redskins mascot should be retired.
After a year of study, a panel of residents decided it's time to pick a mascot that doesn't have negative connotations.
Some students told the Peninsula Daily News they would embrace the change. Others argued it's a tradition that has nothing to do with racism toward Native Americans.
Though no final decision has been made, the name Redbirds was among the possibilities discussed as a replacement.
Protests occurred periodically in the past, but were renewed last summer and a panel was formed to study the issue.
If the school board decides to retire the mascot, uniforms and images at school facilities would have to be redesigned or replaced, which could take several years, the Peninsula Daily News said.
The board is expected to make the decision to keep or discard the mascot at its next meeting on June 24.
KIRO
