HOUSTON – Four Houston Independent School District schools learned which mascot they will be cheering for in the upcoming school year.
District officials announced Tuesday the schools will be known as the Lamar High School Texans, Hamilton Middle School Huskies, Westbury High School Huskies and Welch Middle School Wolf Pack.
The district decided earlier in the school year to get rid of their culturally insensitive mascot characters, which included the Lamar Redskins, Hamilton Indians, Westbury Rebels and Welch Warriors.
"All my aunts and uncles and dad came here, he was a little upset. He wanted me to graduated as an Indian. I think he understands now that it's best to change," said Hamilton Middle School student Briana Rincon.
The four schools had to come up with a process for picking a new mascot.
The change was revealed Tuesday by the superintendent and principals of the schools affected.
HISD superintendent Dr. Terry Grier said HISD had an ethical responsibility to reflect the district's diversity with positive mascots.
"We don't want to be a hateful community or a disrespectful community," said Grier.
But this is just the beginning of the process. The district will spend up to $250,000 to replace the old mascot logos with new ones on uniforms, signs and gyms.
The schools' booster clubs are also expected to dig deep.
"It was really something the students enjoyed. It was a great process, and we had a lot of community support," said Tim Wainwright.
According to HISD's superintendent, every school will have a program to officially retire the old mascots, but phasing in the new images will take some time.