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Friday, April 25, 2003

Indians are out, Wildcats are in at West Seattle High

By DEBORAH BACH
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

After scrapping its problematic Indians moniker and remaining mascotless for months, West Seattle High School has a new nickname less likely to offend: the Wildcats.

The mascot got 54 percent of the student vote this week, trumping the other ballot option -- the Wolf Pack -- by a nail-biting 8 percentage points. West Seattle abandoned its former Indians nickname in September after Seattle Public Schools adopted a policy in July banning the use of tribal names for school monikers and mascots.

The district established the policy after the student-run Native American Club at West Seattle High objected to the Indians name used at the school for more than 80 years.

The policy was subsequently challenged by the school's alumni association, but was upheld last month by a King County Superior Court judge.

The two ballot choices were among 10 politically correct options, which also included the Yellowjackets, Wolves, Ravens, Mustangs, Tigers, Wolverines and Falcons.

Principal Phil Brockman said the school will select an image to go along with its new mascot by holding a student art competition.

Asked if he was relieved to see an end to the hotly debated mascot issue, Brockman said, "I'm glad it's over, yes."

Had the school chosen its new icon last week, the Wildcats could have joined in a kickoff on Monday of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning standardized tests.

To pump up the school's sophomores, who started taking the test this week, Brockman and a group of teachers strutted out their own rendition of the Village People's disco hit "YMCA," substituting "W-A-S-L" and writing their own test-boosting lyrics.

In the spirit of the original version, the WASL People included a few construction workers, a police officer, a sailor, a Marine and a leather-clad biker.

The one noticeably absent figure, a standard Village People character, was the Indian.

Webtowns
More headlines and info from West Seattle.

P-I reporter Deborah Bach can be reached at 206-448-8197 or deborahbach@seattlepi.com

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