Twin Valley High School students are pushing to have the Raider school mascot that is considered offensive to Native Americans retired, writes Mike Drago for the Daily Local News.

Juniors Jackson Bonds and Arden Wolfe have launched the “Retire The Raider” campaign and have recruited a group of student-activists to help run it. The effort has so far managed to get more than 4,300 names in an online petition.

“We want to unify our school,” said Wolfe. “We don’t want to divide our school.”

While the school district currently uses a “TV” icon as its main logo that is displayed on the stadium field and the basketball court, the school still uses Native American images, some wearing traditional headdress, in its gyms, programs, and photos. The most offensive is the mascot costume with an oversized, cartoonish-looking head, according to Wolf.

However, the initiative has gained little traction with the school administration.

Dr. Robert Pleis, Twin Valley superintendent, said that the school district is currently primarily focused on responding to the pandemic and it will “not consider new initiatives” until the crisis is resolved.

Read more about Twin Valley High School in the Daily Local News here.