North Hills School District mulls change to Indian mascot

North Hills became the latest school district to seek public input regarding the subject of shifting away from its Indian mascot.

During a June 22 town hall meeting, district residents and alumni were invited to give their opinions on a possible change to after Disney World barred the school band from performing at the venue with their home uniforms because they display the mascot.

The band did get permission to perform by switching to their mascot-lacking summer uniforms.

Many professional, college and high school teams have recently either changed their logos or discussed changing them if they represented a part of the American Indian heritage.

The school board made a statement at the beginning of the meeting that no decision would be made that night and that all comments would be reviewed when the board does meet to decide if a change is appropriate.

All board members were in attendance.

More than 130 people signed up for the opportunity to make a public comment, but more than half of them did not attend. The majority of the 50-plus attendees who did speak were in favor of a change, including David Taylor, the father of a 2022 North Hills High School graduate and another student still in the district.

He cited “the genocide” that our nation began with and asked that the district take “the opportunity to be on the right side of history.”

On the opposite side of the fence, Timothy Lego was in favor of keeping the Indian mascot. He said that he was “growing tired of a small but vocal group trying to erase history.”

The meeting was not livestreamed, unlike regular North Hills School Board meetings. One attendee did livestream the event on Facebook.

The Indian emblem has been in place in some form in the area since 1939, when the former West View High School first used it in its yearbook.

The cost to rebrand could be very expensive for the district – up to $500,000 – and those costs will most likely trickle down to taxpayers. The district has not given any specific date as to when a decision would be made.

Those who were not able to attend the town hall meeting still can provide comments by submitting them through the district website at nhsd.net by July 1.