At the center of the Sandusky Community School Board’s meeting last week was discussion concerning the district’s mascot/logo, with the decision made to reincorporate the former Native American imagery into the current wolf theme. The board clarified and expanded on the motion in the meeting’s minutes, released later that week.
According to the motion (as presented in the minutes), although the district will continue to be known as the “Sandusky Wolves” and will keep the current wolf mascot, they approved the use of the previous logo for “historical tribute purposes.” Future purposes will be determined by the superintendent and include the compilation of historical artifacts for a display/wall/collage preserving the history of the school.
The minutes further noted that board members have the ability to create a potential hybrid logo/design by combining aspects of the current wolf logo with the former “Two Guns White Calf” logo. (It should be noted that this particular logo, featuring the likeness of Blackfoot Chief Two Guns White Calf, was designed in 1971 for the Washington Redskins by Walter Wetzel. Prior to the name change, Sandusky Community Schools had been using the Redskin team moniker since the 1940s.)
In addition, the district will formally recognize Native American heritage month and will offer Native American History education to students. Though the meeting notes shared that the board would issue an apology and acknowledgement of possible missteps will be issued to the public for the handling of the mascot issue from its inception to the present, it did not specify that board member Kelly Trowhill gave an apology in that vein at the meeting.
While talking about the motion at Monday’s meeting, Trowhill noted that a public apology was discussed, and told the audience that the board was doing everything they could to be transparent during the process. She added that while the board has had “significant discussions with everyone [they could],” they still wanted to apologize: “Not just to the community, but the students and staff.”
“Part of that apology,” she said “is because the first action that took place, shouldn’t have happened the way that it happened. The second thing that we wanted to apologize about was that, again, we wanted to make sure we were taking the input from the community, the input from the students and staff and we wanted to take all of that into account. If, for some reason, you don’t feel that we’ve done that, again, I apologize on behalf of myself. I made myself available. I’m happy to hear your statements, your concerns, your questions, your comments.”
Board members voted to approve the proposed mascot/logo reincorporation plans in a 6-0 vote. Secretary Norah Harding abstained from voting.
The Redskins mascot/logo was retired in April 2022, with the district approving the wolf mascot name/imagery in November 2022 in a 4-3 vote. Nine months later, in August 2023, the district received almost $75,000 from the Native American Heritage Fund to help with signage, uniforms, and equipment rebranding.
This decision has remained an ongoing issue; however, following one recall election–along with three newly elected board members–last Monday’s motion aimed to address the possible reincorporation.
