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Native American Mascots Print E-mail
A concern was recently raised by a school district official regarding use of Native American images, mascots, and team names.  This agency's response was twofold:

1.     To provide a resource for impacted school officials, the Iowa Department of Education (DE) conducted a survey of districts that have a Native American team name.  The results were sent to those districts who responded to the survey as a means of providing information to a school leader who desires to talk about the subject in his or her community.

 2.     A joint public statement was issued recently by the Iowa Civil Rights Commission, School Administrators of Iowa, the Iowa Association of School Boards, and the DE regarding this issue. The statement, on the DE's website at http://www.iowa.gov/educate/content/view/1223/1532/ , is as follows:

 Schools still using Native American images, mascots, or team names may want to consider community conversations with interested stakeholders to ensure that the schools are not stereotyping any racial, ethnic, or religious group or are not misrepresenting any culture or people.

      Whether those conversations lead to decisions to select new images, mascots, or team names is a matter of local control.  The willingness to initiate conversations with interested stakeholders is an important step in ensuring that schools are not unintentionally disrespectful and insensitive to Native Americans and others who object to such stereotyping.