The Manhattan-Ogden school board will discuss the future of the Manhattan High School Indian mascot and imagery during its meeting Wednesday.
The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. at Robinson Education Center.
The final item on the regular meeting agenda is a discussion about the possibility of making a change to the Indian name and image.
 
Board vice president Kristin Brighton said the purpose of this discussion is “more to get everyone else’s temperature” on the subject. She said she will offer some initial comments before turning the floor over to other board members, including the two newest members, Christine Weixelman and Jayme Morris-Hardeman, who will officially join the board in January.

School district officials clarified Monday that the board wouldn’t take public comments during the meeting Wednesday. They said the meeting is strictly for the board to discuss whether it desires to reconsider changing the mascot or keeping the status quo.
Brighton will lead the discussion after saying at the Nov. 3 meeting that she would like the board to take a “hard look” at changing the mascot by next year. She said she would want to remove the mascot in time for the rededication of MHS West Campus that will take place once building renovations are complete in fall 2022. At that meeting, she brought with her a copy of the MHS Mentor newspaper from 1992, when she was a student and had written as a reporter about a proposal from a K-State group that the mascot should change.

At that Nov. 3 meeting, Brighton said she thought it was “time as a board that we recommend this change be made, even if it’s an unpopular opinion,” and that it would be “in no way trying to disrespect” Coach Frank Prentup, for whom some people say the mascot was chosen. Prentup, who was of Native American descent, taught and coached at MHS from 1938 to 1941 and had the nickname “Chief.” In 2018, the district had a dedication ceremony renaming the high school commons area after Prentup as part of a compromise to keep the Indians name and image.
 
The USD 383 board decided in 2016 to enhance Native American curriculum at the high school while maintaining the Indian name and symbol. The high school offers a “Cultural and Ethnic Awareness” class as an elective, which includes discussions on various groups of people including Native, Black, Asian and Hispanic as well as religious groups.

In 2017, MHS students picked a wolf to serve as an on-field mascot for high school events. As of now, the school hasn’t used a wolf costume.
The board won’t take action Wednesday after the mascot conversation.