Cleveland may be dropping the Indians nickname but one local high school tells us they will not. Fairfield is sticking with Indians. The superintendent tells us the district is not discussing changing their name. Billy Smith does say though that the administration is working with a group of students to discuss ways that the district can honor the tribes from this particular area.
An email from Superintendent Billy Smith says:
" At this time, the District is not discussing changing our name. However, the administration is working with a group of students from our high school to discuss ways that our district may honor the tribes from this particular area. Our focus will be to educate our students and community about those tribes as well as to honor them."
While Fairfield will stick with the Indians, Cincinnati Country Day made the decision earlier this year to end the use of the nickname, saying it reinforces stereotypes that marginalize all people of color.
Cincinnati Country Day has a list of 16 new names that the school may adopt including the Storm, Thunder and Kestrels --- which is a type of falcon.
After narrowing the list to five, there will be a vote of the Cincinnati Country Day community to pick a winner.
This statement on the district website lists all of the semifinalists for the new name.
COUNTRY DAY MASCOT NAMING MOVES FORWARD
After several months of work on naming a new mascot for Cincinnati Country Day School, the committee of 20 students, parents, faculty, staff, and board members, is now able to release the list of semifinalists. The list has been narrowed from a list of 353 submissions and 204 unique submissions to 43 and finally 16 semifinalists. The semifinalists are:
- Bears
- Blue Jays
- Blue Macaws
- Chargers
- Coyotes
- Dragons
- Falcons
- Grizzlies
- Hawks
- Kestrels
- Kodiaks
- Nighthawks
- Storm
- Thunder
- Trailblazers
- Wolves
These semifinalists will be narrowed by the committee to a group of five finalist that will be voted on by the Country Day community. The 5 finalists, including possible imagery and icons, will be released in mid-December and followed by a community vote. The new Country Day mascot will be announced at the end of January.
The mascot committee is appreciative of the work and support shown by the entire community throughout this ongoing process.