Iroquois School District Settles On A New Mascot

The search has been on for a couple of months now, but it looks as though the public has voted on a new mascot for the Western New York School.

In November of 2022, New York State issued a Memorandum entitled "Use of Native American Mascots." In it, they mention that the State Education Department was trying to ensure that all district mascots, team names, and logos are non-discriminatory.

Iroquois sets out to find a new mascot

Iroquois High School found that they were impacted by the proposal in the memo and set out to find a new mascot that would be voted on by the public.

"Iroquois has always said we want to honor and respect the Native Americans. Understanding their story and listening to what they have to say is very important in understanding and having empathy and compassion toward anyone in the world" - Iroquois Superintendant Douglas Scofield to WIVB

The process to find a new mascot begins

So, the district asked the public to send in their suggestions of what the next mascot should be.  They received over 300 responses.  Those responses were then narrowed down to the top 25, and then again to the top 5 following a vote from the public.  They were:

Inferno

Iron Horses

Otters

Red Hawks

Wolves

The public was once again asked to vote in an online forum.  It was limited to one vote per person and went on from December 18th to January 5th.

The votes have been tallied

The votes have been added up and it looks like the final decision wasn't really even close.

What is next for Iroquois?

The next step in the process is finding a logo.  Once again, they are reaching out to the public for help.  People will be able to submit their ideas until January 31st and then the process of public voting will begin again.  They ask that you email your ideas in PDF or JPEG format to: mascotlogo@iroquoiscsd.org or send them via traditional mail to:

Attn: District Clerk

Iroquois Central School District

PO Box 32

2111 Gridle Road

Elma NY 14059

Some non-negotiable guidelines when coming up with your unique logo are:

• The colors must remain the same (red, white, and blue)
• There cannot be another logo duplicate by another school in Western New York (It has to be unique)
• The Logo needs to be a single design
• It must be appropriate (non-offensive)
• Voting will be electronic
• The mascot and logo votes must be separate (if you already voted on the mascot, you will need to vote again for the logo)

The committee will review the submitted logos and present a top 25 list between February 1st-6th.