A group of Warwick students have won a partial victory in their quest to banish from the district the logo of an American Indian, which they say is racist.
High School principal Brian Ginter has promised that the American Indian emblem will not appear this school year on report cards, student IDs and student planners.
But it's not vanishing from the athletic department of the Warwick Warriors, the students were told.
So students plan to petition the school board. When school begins they will collect signatures and also send them to the state Department of Education, their leaders say.
The image used by Warwick High School depicts an American Indian with a brown or red face (depending on the particular image), aquiline nose and braided black hair.
"I don't know how they don't see that it's racist," says Matt Diabes, who graduated from Warwick in the spring.
In 2001, the United States Civil Rights Commission declared that using American Indian names and references for public schools and sports teams was a racist practice.
Continued use of the image also ignores the requests of American Indian leaders to stop the practice, according to the commission.
So a handful of students have taken up their cause.
In May, the students took their concerns to the school board. In June, they presented their case to Lititz Borough Council.
"They are really not open to hearing us at all," Diabes said of the school board.
School Board president Cathryn Ketterman said a board decision made in 2000 on the American Indian emblem still stands unless the issue returns to the board to reconsider, she said.
School board member Karen Malleus said if the district has "instances where we are doing anything offensive or detrimental" to the school atmosphere, the matter should be addressed.
Warwick athletic director John Kosydar had no comment and directed questions to the district's spokeswoman, Lori Zimmerman.
Warwick, however, is not the only local school district to use American Indians as a sports emblem or logo. Donegal High School athletics teams are the Indians, and Pequea Valley High School teams are the Braves.
Both schools also have characterizations of American Indians on the floors of their gymnasiums.
But that does not make it OK, said Emma Fitzpatrick, a senior at Warwick High School.
The symbols do not honor anyone.
She got involved with this effort after a class trip to Quebec in February.
An American Indian woman busing tables at a restaurant noticed the Warwick Warriors sweatshirts worn by students.
They had logos of an American Indian. Some were small, and others were larger.
"She asked what this meant, and I told her it was our school mascot," Fitzpatrick said. "She was really hurt and looked like she was about to cry."
In 2000, six students protested the use of the American Indian as a mascot and logo for the Warwick Warriors.
The school board agreed to remove the image from doormats and trash cans and eliminate having someone dress up as an Indian warrior during sports events, Malleus said.
The district began using a logo of a "W" on many of its official documents.
But the cartoon-like American Indian face still appears on the high school sign. A smaller version is on the football players' uniform pants and on other sports apparel.
The American Indian face is also on the gym floor and on the mission statement hanging in the district office.
Ginter, who did not join the administration at Warwick until the middle of the last school year, said the logo was not supposed to be on the school's academic planners or report cards. That was a mistake he's fixed for the 2008-09 school year.
The students say they were told that in 2000 the district decided it would phase out the use of the American Indian logo.
If something breaks or wears out, its replacement would no longer carry the image, but the district will not replace items just to change the icon, students say.
The district office has not responded to requests for a copy of the school board's 2000 decision.
It did provide a copy of minutes from a school board meeting in April of 2000 during which the matter was discussed.
Former superintendent Stephen Iovino said he supports the symbol's use but not the mascot.
The board backed his recommendation.
Fitzpatrick and Ryan Epp are seniors this year. They plan to continue their efforts and hope younger students join them.
It's not a popular stance.
Some students have expressed their vigorous disapproval to them about their determination to remove the American Indian Warrior from the entire district.
"I understand that there is going to be a backlash, but we are fighting for justice and what we believe is right," Fitzpatrick said.
Staff writer Robyn Meadows can be reached at rmeadows@LNPnews.com or 481-6025.
Is Warwick's logo racist?