Anaheim High School will keep its longstanding nickname, the Colonists, but the mascot will be redesigned to replace the blunderbuss-wielding man in a Pilgrim-style hat that has for years been a symbol of the school.

A petition pushed to scrap the name and mascot because some felt it was an outdated and offensive homage to settlers who dispossessed and killed indigenous people. School officials organized lessons on the mascot that included the history of the original “Anaheim colony,” founded by wine-making German immigrants, and then had students vote on what they wanted for the future of the mascot.

After considering the November vote by the school’s student body, Anaheim Union High School District trustees decided Tuesday night to keep the Colonists name and form a task force – which will include students – that will discuss how to reimagine the mascot behind that name.

While the Colonists name may signify nothing more than school pride to students, staff and alumni today, it’s hurtful to Native Americans, school board President Al Jabbar said at Tuesday’s meeting, adding, “I don’t think the image really reflects even the German immigrants that established themselves in Anaheim.”

Last month, Anaheim High students announced the results of the campus-wide vote: about 41% wanted to keep the name and mascot intact; nearly 34% supported remaining the Colonists but redesigning the mascot; and about 25% of votes were to replace both the name and mascot with something new.

Jabbar said Tuesday he looked at the overall percentage of students who wanted to keep the Colonists name – 75% – and the the proportion who thought the mascot should change – 59%. He felt the board should honor that by letting the school remain the Colonists but overhaul the mascot, he said.

While Jabbar thanked Anaheim High teachers for organizing lessons and guiding students as they researched the issue and came to their own decisions about the mascot, several people who commented at the meeting were critical of the process.

“To begin an Anaheim history lesson with the exchange of land between the German and the Spanish colonists and not speak of the original inhabitants of the land, the Tongva people, the forced removal, the violent means in which the land was acquired, is a failure to your students, especially to your indigenous students,” one young woman told the board.

Trustees noted the district was ahead of the state in making ethnic studies a requirement, and Jabbar asked the board to commit to emphasizing both Native American history and Anaheim history in the curriculum.

This is the second time in four years a school in the district has tried to reconcile modern interpretations with an old mascot and nickname.

In 2017, students at Savanna High researched and then voted on whether their school’s nickname, the Rebels, and its Johnny Rebel mascot should be changed to avoid perceived connections to the Confederacy. In a similar decision, the school board considered the students’ wishes and opted to keep the traditional name, but scrap an outdated mascot.

A little over two years later, the district unveiled the result of Savanna’s rebranding: a ring-shaped logo in red, white and gray with the school’s name and nickname surrounding a large letter S.

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