ALAMOSA – Two years ago, the Colorado state legislature passed SB21-116, which called for the elimination of derogatory Native American mascots in Colorado schools.

Gov. Jared Polis signed the bill into law not long afterward.

Several schools in the state did change their mascots to be in full compliance with the law. Included on that list were Sanford and Mountain Valley which both had Indians for their mascot. Sanford changed its name to the Mustangs while Mountain Valley changed to the Wolves.

Another local school, Sangre de Cristo, also faced having to change its name as Thunderbirds is considered sacred to several tribes. However, after reaching an agreement with a recognized tribe, Sangre will be keeping the mascot.

“We made a decision in June to keep the mascot,” said Sangre de Cristo superintendent James Crews.

The decision to keep the mascot came after negotiations with the Jicarilla Apache tribe which has a history within the San Luis Valley.

“We were going to make an agreement with the Jicarilla Apache tribe and we met with president (Edward) Velarde and told him what we wanted to do and why we were doing it,” Crews said. “It was also looking to develop our relationship with them. We’re finding out that there’s a lot of history here with the Jicarilla Apache in the valley. So one of the conditions on having an agreement was to start creating a curriculum that would be taught in our school that would provide more information on the people who were here before us and a lot of their impact on the San Luis Valley. It became bigger than retaining the Thunderbird.

“We met with Velarde and signed the agreement that we had with him and that took is back over to us,” Crews added. “Then we had to meet with the Colorado Commission for Indian Affairs again. That was three days later and we shared more information. They then took a vote to determine whether they want to remove us off of the non-compliance list. They said yes and that list and said that we have all of the things done. So they voted unanimously to take us off the list. We were able to retain the Thunderbird with name with our agreement with the Jicarilla Apaches.”

The Thunderbird mascot came under scrutiny last year toward the end of the original deadline for compliance. With the late notification, The CCIA gave Sangre de Cristo a year to either come to an agreement with a recognized tribe or change the mascot.

“They had the original list of schools and one of the school districts, Montrose, had one school was Indians, and Thunderbirds was a name for one of their elementary schools. So that had them create another list which was the Thunderbirds. They identified seven different school districts that had Thunderbirds for a mascot. So they extended it for a year. But there was a part that said if you could develop a relationship with a recognized tribe and you could work with them to possibly retain the mascot. So initially I reached out and didn’t really get anywhere, but somebody on the commission reached out to help us connect with the Jicarilla Apaches. So that was the start of that relationship.

“After it was all said and done, by the end of June, we were the only school that made that decision,” Crews added. “I believe all of the other Thunderbirds changed their names. So we’re the only Thunderbirds in the state.”

The agreement also aided the Sangre district to save a lot of money which would have been to make the changes to the school.

“It saved us from having to change the floor and the uniforms and all the other things that were required,” Crews said. “One of the things in our community was that all of the schools are the Thunderbirds while the other had several different mascots. Ours it a generational thing since the 50s. Everybody identifies themselves as the Thunderbirds. We found out much the area we are in, the Jicarilla Apache really had a historical connection to it.”

Sangre de Cristo has been the Thunderbirds since 1959 when the former Mosca and Hooper schools district consolidated. Mosca had been the Cowboys while Hooper was the Bulldogs.

“They’ve been identified as Thunderbirds and they want to continue to be identified as Thunderbirds,” Crews said. “Back about 1959 or 1960, they consolidated into the Sangre de Cristo district from Mosca and Hooper.”

The passage and signing into law of SB21-116 saw almost all of the schools with Native American mascots to change their name. In addition to Sanford and Mountain Valley, La Veta changed from Redskins to Redhawks, Lamar changed from Savages to Thunder, Montrose changed from Indians to Red Hawks, Cheyenne Mountain changed from Indians to Red-Tailed Hawks, Loveland changed from Indians to Red Wolves, Hinkley changed from Thunderbirds to Thunder, and Frederick changed from Warriors to Golden Eagles. Yuma had the Indians for a mascot, but now identifies as Yuma.

Sangre de Cristo isn’t the only district to retain their mascot after an agreement with a recognized tribe. Both Kiowa and Strasburg were able to keep the Indian names after such an agreement, and Eaton retained the Reds name, but eliminated the Native American mascot.