Facts about "Indian" sports team token usage in the State of Maine

A March 15, 2021 update from Mr. Ed Rice reports:

1. The LAST SCHOOL: Skowhegan Area High School voted to end the use of the nickname "Indians" in August of 2019; in October of 2020, the school board (15-5 vote!) adopted the new nickname and identity "River Hawks."

2. Three schools: Nokomis High School of Newport, Southern Aroostook HS and Wells HS all remain "Warriors" but all three have made the use completely "generic" taking down many highly visible and well-known "Indian head" signs etc. The sporting jerseys for all three are completely free of inappropriate imagery, including the script use for the nickname.

In this January 29, 2019 editorial Mr. Ed Rice provided a detailed summary and update on the status of "Indian"sports team tokens in Maine public schools that notes only one school, Skowhegan, has yet to retire its outdated sports team identity. Mr. Rice, who is an author and longtime advocate on this issue in Maine, also leads an effort to have a monument erected in honor of famed Penobscot athlete, Louis Francis Sockalexis, who is regarded as the first American Indian professional baseball player.

An April 19, 2014 email received from Mr. Rice stated that "we can definitely scratch Southern Aroostook High School...and Wells High School is in the process of moving to "generic Warriors" according to Superintendent Ellen Schneider, in responding to the columns in her southern Maine region. Maine is now at just two schools continuing the practice: Nokomis of Newport and Skowhegan."

On May 10, 2013 Mr. Rice provided this update: The only schools in Maine left using American Indian sports team tokens include:

Nokomis High School of Newport, Maine -- Warriors (with Indian head)
Wells High School of Wells, Maine -- Warriors (with Indian head)
Skowhegan Area High School of Skowhegan -- Indians (with Indian images)
Southern Aroostook High School of Dyer Brook and Island Falls, Maine told me they were moving to a generic "Warriors" but still had Indian head images on their web site. I took their administration at their word that they were changing this sometime this school year.

Thank you to Mr. Ed Rice for patience and providing the following October 2010 update on the current institutionalized use of American Indian sports team tokens by public school in the State of Maine. Author, advocate, and educator, Mr. Rice's website is at Sockalexis.net

Mr. Rice wrote:

"I found there are really only 9 schools left in Maine doing this:
"3 elementary schools (Athens Apaches, Strong Indians and the Indian school, Beatrice Rafferty, in Perry*),
* Note: It is the general policy of AISTM.org to exclude American Indian specific schools from these related listings.

"0 (Zero!) junior high/middle schools, and just

"6 high schools (Wells Warriors, Nokomis Warriors of Newport, Southern Aroostook Warriors, "Skowhegan Indians, and the two most egregious, Sanford Redskins and Wiscasset Redskins).

"I believe the Fort Kent Community High School should be dropped from the "list after speaking with principal Tim Doak…who has eliminated all use of "icons "(including an Indian head on the gym floor) and has the school "moving towards a '“generic”' Warrior that offers NO American Indian "representation."