{"id":40632,"date":"2022-05-09T19:53:45","date_gmt":"2022-05-10T01:53:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-schools-with-thunderbird-mascot-set-to-get-one-year-reprieve-from-25000-monthly-fines\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:56:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:56:54","slug":"colorado-schools-with-thunderbird-mascot-set-to-get-one-year-reprieve-from-25000-monthly-fines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-schools-with-thunderbird-mascot-set-to-get-one-year-reprieve-from-25000-monthly-fines\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado schools with \u2018Thunderbird\u2019 mascot set to get one-year reprieve from $25,000 monthly fines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A painted effigy of a Thunderbird overlooks a reading nook inside Johnson Elementary School on April 12 in Montrose. (William Woody\/Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Colorado schools that could face $25,000 monthly fines over \u201cThunderbird\u201d mascots are poised to be granted a one-year reprieve to come into compliance with a 2021 state law banning American Indian nicknames.<\/p>\n

The one-year delay, tucked into a school finance bill working its way through the Legislature, applies only to schools added after 2021 to the state\u2019s noncompliance list.<\/p>\n

It offers a more \u201crealistic time frame\u201d for schools to scrub their campuses of recently banned mascots before fines kick in, said Monument Republican state Sen. Paul Lundeen, a prime sponsor of the school finance bill who introduced the change.<\/p>\n

Lundeen\u2019s amendment comes after the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs last year published a list of more than two dozen public schools that must get rid of their American Indian mascots before June 1, 2022, or face fines under Senate Bill 116, which passed last year. In April, the commission signaled it might add Thunderbirds to the list of derogatory mascots \u2013 leaving another seven public schools unsure if they will need to jettison their mascots before June.<\/p>\n

Those schools could find out at the commission\u2019s meeting on May 19.<\/p>\n

Some said that would not leave them enough time \u2013 just two weeks \u2013 to get rid of any imagery of the Thunderbird mascot, which refers to a mythical bird important to several tribes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re going to put us on there this late in the day, give us a little time to make the changes,\u201d David Crews, superintendent of Sangre de Cristo School District in Mosca, told The Colorado Sun in April. The district adopted the Thunderbirds mascot when two San Luis Valley districts merged in 1960. \u201cThis puts us between a rock and a hard place \u2013 we\u2019re not on the list now but do we start making changes? If we don\u2019t respond now and we get on there we don\u2019t have a lot of time for compliance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twelve of the original two dozen public schools had not covered up their mascots as of mid-March. Those schools could still face fines starting next month; the amendment now gives schools one year from the time they\u2019re notified to come into compliance.<\/p>\n

Lundeen said some schools knew their mascots would be banned under state law, either because they were a blatant appropriation of American Indian imagery or because they were named in discussions of Senate Bill 116. Others, like those with Thunderbird mascots, may have been caught unaware that they would need to cover up trophies, remove banners or change school uniforms to conceal Thunderbird images.<\/p>\n

\"McLachlan\"
McLachlan<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cThose schools would have less than a month to cover everything \u2013 I just thought that was really unfair because they were not in the first campaign,\u201d said state Rep. Barbara McLachlan, a Durango Democrat and prime sponsor of the bill.<\/p>\n

McLachlan, who supports the amendment and backed the 2021 bill banning American Indian mascots in public schools, said some schools\u2019 Thunderbird mascots were a reference to the U.S. Air Force demonstration squadron while others used Indian American imagery.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first, people were saying (schools on the list) were wrong, they need to be punished right now. But \u2026 no school can afford that,\u201d McLachlan said. \u201cWe have to give them some grace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drews, the superintendent, said he hopes the district is not added to the commission\u2019s list. But if they are, he\u2019s grateful the amendment could give them a year to make changes rather than 12 days.<\/p>\n

The amendment comes as Colorado\u2019s geographic renaming board has also begun the process of scrubbing a Native American slur from 28 sites across the state.<\/p>\n

McLachlan said the 2021 mascot bill was \u201cdecades in the making,\u201d and is aimed at removing derogatory or stereotypical mascots, a change tribes had long requested. She cited examples like Tomahawks and \u201cSavages.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just decided to get together and say \u2018Let\u2019s not do this anymore. Let\u2019s help them out,\u2019\u201d McLachlan said.<\/p>\n

The governor\u2019s office \u2013 which handles questions for the commission \u2013 supports the one-year delay, according to Conor Cahill, a Gov. Jared Polis spokesman.<\/p>\n

The school finance bill passed the Senate Friday. It passed the House \u2013 without the \u201cThunderbird\u201d-related amendment \u2013 last month.<\/p>\n

Colorado Sun staff writer Jesse Paul contributed to this report<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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