Clover Park School District announcement.
LAKEWOOD, Wash. — Clover Park High School is changing its current school mascot and, with student input, has identified four potential options for staff, student, family, alumni and community input. These potential mascot names reflect the school’s Clover Creed values of community, perseverance, honor and scholarship:
- Dragons
- Grizzlies
- Mustangs
- Timberwolves
Review the options and provide your input by completing the following survey by Tuesday, Dec. 13:
English – Clover Park High School Mascot Survey
Espanol – Clover Park High School Mascot Name Survey
The school will review input received from students, staff, families, alumni and community before a final selection is made in mid-December. While the mascot may change, the school culture and community will not.
“This change provides us with an important opportunity for our school to create a new mascot that positively reflects our CPHS values, creed and culture,” said Clover Park High School Principal Tim Stults.
This mascot change aligns with recent legislation prohibiting the inappropriate use of Native American names, symbols or images as public school names, mascots, logos or team names. As part of this process, the school district consulted with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Puyallup Tribe, as well as gathered input from Native American staff, families and students.
“We recognize that many Clover Park High School alumni are proud of their high school and associate their school mascot with school pride; however, based on SHB 1356, it is clear that the school’s current mascot must change,”
Superintendent Ron Banner said. “Together we can build a new legacy of school pride unifying alumni and current CPHS students, staff and families.”
The school will immediately begin using its new mascot name while it replaces imagery, equipment, uniforms, signage and materials this school year.
Please contact the Community Relations department at 253-583-5040 if you need assistance completing the survey.
The survey allows only a selection of 4 mascot names, not one of which has ANYTHING to do with Lakewood WA. CPHS students may have come up with these potential names, but CP alumnae will not choose any of them in the survey online.
Dear District: Please consider actually listening to your CP family (former students, former staff/coaches); by hearing their ideas, You may in the process develop more channels for alumnae engagement. If you go with one of the four choices, you have successfully alienated well over a half century of CP graduates, who have pride in the name WARRIOR and what it represents. We well understand the no Native American mascot ruling, but please listen to your community and alumnae this once as you select a new Mascot. thank you
are we no longer allowed to comment on News in Sub times?
Ben, really?
Mandy. Wow. Thanks for giving me the benefit of the doubt. The comment you are referring to was held for moderation because you changed your username. My system flagged that as a first time commenter (yes, I know this is not your first comment). Your comment has been approved. Signed Ben Sclair
All that had to change was maybe the mascot. It’s ridiculous and I hope many people rally against it.
Dragons? Really?
John Dower are/were the Dragons!
Clover Park Engines has a ring to it.
“The school will review input received from students, staff, families, alumni…” except the only input they allow is “From this list, please choose 2”. All four options are awful.
I support removing racist images, but why not keep Warriors and choose different warriors to depict? We’re a military town, how about a soldier and call it a Warrior. Hell, put Rosa Parks on there and call her a Warrior. Put a single mom of three and call her a Warrior.
This is classic CPSD tactics. Force a few bad choices and then proudly proclaim they listened to feedback. I’m disappointed but in no way surprised.
Careful with these names!
We might be offending:
Non – firing breathing creatures
Or all the other wolves,
Mustangs? Why discriminate against the other horses?
Grizzlies – what are the panda, brown , black, koala and the. teddy bear going going to say?
CP Students! Is a good name!
Since the feathers in the bonnet are Eagle feathers, why not leave the bonnet alone, and change the name to EAGLES.. I know that eagles will not be be offended..
Take the Indian head out and put in an eagle. After all, eagles are an awesome bird, soaring higher than any of our local birds. Very majestic and powerful.
Evelyn, nice suggestion… I Agree!!!
Keep the name Warriors but change the logo to something that represents the warriors of JBLM, a population that is a huge part of the Lakewood community.
On Monday November 29, 2021 I was saddened to read the first notice that our CP Warrior had fallen victim to being cancelled. While in the same Suburban Times there was an amazing article on how the Nisqually Tribe is using the recent request for a name change to Fort Steilacoom Park as a time to educate and inform the visitors that come to Fort Steilacoom Park of their rich history here in Lakewood using visual displays. I was confused by the fact that the Clover Park High School Administration chose to eliminate our CP Warrior versus educating the community and standing up for something that they believed in and would represent fairly when challenged. My confusion led me to learn more on the legislation regarding this name change.
Here are some points in the the bill brought forward by state Legislature Representative Debra Lekanoff that I found of interest. “The ban does not apply to schools on tribal lands or to schools adjacent to Native American areas as long as the nearest tribe is consulted and authorizes the use of the name.” There is also a fiscal note attached to the bill which notes that…costs to school districts would vary based on the number of items that would need to be replaced including sports and club uniforms, flags, banners and other materials. It goes on to state that the proposed law creates a grant program to help support schools that incur costs related to the proposed change.
This information caused me to ask the question – did the Clover Park School Board request that the Clover Park District Administration approach the Nisqually Tribe to discuss the use of the CP Warrior, what did the tribal leadership find offensive and was there any middle ground that could be negotiated. I understand that the Warrior imagery in the incorrect headdress and clothing is not representative of the Nisqually Tribe or any NW tribe and may be found objectionable . I am not certain that the tribal leadership would find the word “warrior” offensive considering Chief Leshi’s story as one of their most notable warriors. It would be of interest to read the letter that was sent to the Tribal leadership and to see their response to understand what the Nisqually tribe finds objectionable with the CP Warrior since the imagery does not have the impact on the students, staff and community that eliminating the word “warrior” does.
After reading the article on November 29, 2021 and today plus talking to others about this, friends have said that the decision is final, that the school board will have no comment and that the district is moving forward despite anything that students, staff or community says or does and the administration will not even consider keeping the name “warrior”.
But, wait – there is a silver lining in this situation of eliminating a piece of Clover Park’s rich history – while the story of how the CP Warrior sustained and invigorated Clover Park High School during the great and not so great years – the sports teams and clubs finally have a financial opportunity in the form of a grant to purchase much needed uniforms and other materials which they have so desperately needed and requested at Clover Park High School for many years and have not been provided the funding.
I am only sorry that our two CP warriors who played many sports while at CP, who believe in the “Warrior Spirit” and graduated from Clover Park High School as proud warriors are reading and hearing that as a warrior that they were “inappropriate”.
Respectfully submitted by:
Barb Dalton
Rearranging deck chairs while the ship of academic achievement slips below the waves. By the way: 13 December 2021 is on Monday, not Tuesday. I also wonder how Dragons
Grizzlies, Mustangs, Timberwolves have any relationship to the Clover Creed values of community, perseverance, honor and scholarship. I’d have thought that a human being who personifies those values rather than wild animals would have been more appropriate as a mascot……………..perhaps a native American from Lakewood or Washington’s history……like a Warrior.
what about the beautiful mural in the gym…please don’t destroy that or paint over it..it some how must be preserved
“Warrior” is a noun which can be applied to appropriate individuals in all cultures. If the symbol associated with the term “Warrior” is objectionable, change it but keep inspiring, majestic “Warrior”. It is so much more appropriate than ho-hum Dragons, Grizzlies, Mustangs and Timberwolves.
How about “Clover Park Sheep?” That seems appropriate.
I think you’ve missed the obvious choice, “PIONEERS”.
What was so offensive about “Warriors”? How about, Clover Park “Facilitators”?
Have everyone write an essay. Best wishes for holidays (with many names).
I believe the mascot should have been “Geoducks.” It would have been to our advantage during sporting events. Opponents would have been confused so much as to how to pronounce the name that our players could have built an insurmountable lead before the games ended.
Clover Park student artists could have designed a colorful, but friendly, logo to be marketed locally and nationwide. Imagine the wonderment in viewers’ eyes as they gazed upon our friendly mascot, “Gooey,” or is it “Geo”?
And there’s no need to compose a new fight song for our teams. One already exists; “The Geoduck Song,” as sung by Fred Penner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JjhZfJ4dto
Other than renaming the yearbook (I’m from the “Klahowya” days) to something like “The Mud Duck,” another name for this edible, that’s about all I have to offer.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
Clover Park Rangers has nice ring to it IMO.
There is one choice missing from that list of possible names, and that is, “NONE OF THE ABOVE!” Change the logo, but keep the “Warriors” name!
Laughable! Cancel culture in its most woke state.
Let’s just turn the schools over to corporate sponsors and let them name each location.
Lochburn Lions better go, Lions kill or maime lots of innocent people.
Tyre Park Tigers (I think) see Lions above.
Lakes Lancers, can’t have that, those crusading knights and their pokey lances wreaked havoc during their crusades.
And the list goes on.
I say get rid of Clover Park School district name since it doesn’t represent the whole area it covers. Just use the district number and then give each school a number. Simple and done.