Was vote to change Fresno High’s Native American mascot illegal? New lawsuit says yes
A lawsuit filed against the Fresno Unified School District this week alleges the board violated the Brown Act when it voted to remove the Fresno High Schools mascot that depicts a Native American caricature.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday in Fresno County Superior Court, lists potential violations of the Brown Act that occurred on Dec. 9, the night of the vote. Trustee Terry Slatic was the only board member to vote against the mascot change.
“... the School Board’s vote fails to provide any meaningful information,” the lawsuit says. “The 6-1 vote makes no mention of what the Fresno Warrior will be changed to, how much it will cost to change the Fresno Warrior, who will be paid to change the Fresno Warrior, or any other factual statement. The School Board’s vote fails to answer the who, what, when, where, or why of how changing the Fresno Warrior will work.”
The school board minutes say there would be no fiscal impact if the board decided to change the Fresno High mascot, according to the lawsuit, but cited a GV Wire story that reported it would cost between $400,000 and $1 million.
Citing a policy of not commenting on pending litigation, FUSD officials declined to comment on the lawsuit Tuesday. FUSD spokesperson Amy Idsvoog told The Bee’s Education Lab that district staff plans to present a budget request to the board this month and said “reports of it (the cost to change mascots) reaching $1 million are overly exaggerated.”
The PowerPoint presentation the district presented to the board about changing the mascot said there wouldn’t be a vote until the school reopened, the lawsuit says. At the time of the vote, Fresno High was still closed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The issue came to the board because of a movement sparked by Fresno’s Jamie Nelson, a Yokuts Native. He said he started a petition in June advocating for FUSD to change the mascot because the image is offensive and degrading to Native Americans, especially since Fresno High sits on the land originally inhabited by Yokuts Natives before white colonizers stole it.
Fresno Unified students have fought alongside Nelson to push the board to change the mascot.
The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Learn about The Bee’s Education Lab on our website.
This story was originally published May 4, 2021 at 3:28 PM.