An advisory panel is recommending that the Wells-Ogunquit Consolidated School District abandon the detailed profile of an Indian head as a mascot for the Wells Warriors sports teams.
James Daly, district superintendent, said the change in school policy will be recommended next month to the district's school committee following Wednesday night's vote by the 25 member mascot advisory panel.
“Seventeen of those votes voted in favor of keeping the Warrior name, but to discontinue the use of Native American imagery, so our recommendation to the school committee on June 6 will be to keep the Warrior nickname and discontinue the use of Native American imagery on all of our campuses," Daly said.
Tensions heightened in the community last October when some Native American families felt as though they were being mocked and ridiculed by local sports fans during a Wells football game. The incident generated statewide media attention and prompted the proposed change in the use of the school's Indian image.
Daly said some concerns were raised over the advisory panel's initially unannounced, non-binding vote on the school policy change, but he emphasized there was never any intent to withhold information from the public on the issue.
"You know we looked at Chapter 13, section 403 and we looked at subsection 6 permitting the advisory committee in the voting process and we felt as though we did everything according to the law. Now if we did make a mistake, it was not intentional," Daly said.
This story was originally published May 24, 2018 at 3:54 p.m. ET.
