The North Hills School District Board of Education voted Thursday night to stop using a Native American chief logo, but will continue to use the name “Indians” for the district’s athletic teams.
The board voted 7-2, with Deanna Philpott and Elizabeth Nease voting against the resolution that was introduced at the board’s Sept. 15 meeting.
The district will work with a graphic artist to establish new district logos and images, establish guidelines and post those to its website prior to the 2023-‘24 school year.
Items currently in use with the old logo will be replaced under the normal replacement cycle, district officials said.
Board members said the resolution was prepared after soliciting community feedback at a town-hall meeting in June, as well as through an online survey. Click here to see the survey results.
More than 200 comments were split with some supporting the change and some railing against it.
A letter submitted by the National Congress of American Indians advocated doing away with the logo.
“While there are no federally recognized Tribal Nations in Pennsylvania, what is now recognized as present-day Western Pennsylvania was stewarded by many peoples since time immemorial, including the Haudenosaunee, Lenni-Lenape, Shawnee and Osage,” the letter reads. “NCAI supports the retirement of Native-‘themed’ mascots in public K-12 schools.”
In 2020, a letter signed by hundreds of former students and community members was sent to administrators and posted to Medium.com, advocating the removal of the logo.
Watch the full meeting below:
