Ballots were finally cast in the pivotal off-year election that yielded a verdict on Trumpism, but another important electoral decision is still pending: What will the new Tomales High School mascot be?
Under state law, the school’s sports teams can no longer call themselves the Braves, or a host of other names lawmakers recently deemed demeaning to the Indigenous people of North America.
Shoreline Unified School District has finally made progress in its search for a new moniker and mascot.
Trustees will make a selection at their December board meeting, but Tomales High students weighed in this week, narrowing the pool of potential names from 10 to four.
What remains are the Toros/Bulls, the Bucks, the Wolves, and the Highlanders—after the shaggy-haired, long-horned cattle breed that grazes at the entrance to town.
Selecting a single student nominee is a multi-phase process, and at this stage, the Toros/Bulls is the leading contender. It received 65 of the 151 votes cast. Just 31 students voted for the Bucks, 30 students voted for the Bulls, and 25 students voted for the Highlanders.
Other names that made the top 10: the Dolphins, the Grizzlies, the Ravens, the Sharks, the Snakes, and the Thunderbirds.
Some less conventional choices did not make the cut, including the Common Grebes, the Shuckers, the Snowy Plovers, the Capybaras, and the Banana Slugs.
Last Wednesday, superintendent Matt Dunkle, Tomales High School principal Forrest Harper, and other district administrators hosted a community meeting at the high school to discuss the process of selecting a new mascot.
“We were never going to be the Banana Slugs,” said Mr. Harper, who put together the student committee that narrowed the field of names to 10.
Mr. Dunkle explained the criteria for a new name, including a connection to the Tomales community; timelessness and longevity; distinctiveness and ability to inspire school spirit; visual and practical versatility; and inclusivity and respect.
“The number-one vote may not be what the board decides,” stressed Heidi Koenig, the school board president. “There are very specific criteria that we’re following.”
In the first round of voting, students could cast up to three votes. In the next round, which took place this morning after press time, they got just one. Students from the district’s four elementary schools also had a chance to vote in the final round.
Before the school board makes a final decision on Dec. 10, alumni, parents, and community members will also be given a chance weigh in, although the procedure for collecting their votes has yet to be determined.
Whichever name is selected, the school colors will remain the same—black and cardinal red.
Twenty-five years ago, the district had a contentious debate about whether to abandon both the Braves name and its then mascot—a Native American in a feathered head band. One side argued that the that the name was demeaning and had to go; the other argued that it simply embodied school spirit and tradition.
The school board initially decided to dispense with both, but the reaction was fierce. Students walked out of class and nearly 350 people packed a board meeting, with most objecting to the change.
In the end, trustees settled on a compromise: The name would remain, but the mascot would go.
This year, the argument is not nearly so intense. Scarcely more than a dozen people attended last week’s meeting, and most of them seemed resigned or even enthusiastic about a change.
“People don’t want to fight it anymore,” said Jackie Bordessa, who coaches the girls’ volleyball team, is vice president of the boosters’ club, and has a student in ninth grade. “They’re done. We already cried and were upset about it. I just want this discussion to be over with. It’s time. We’ve been battling for too long.”
Like many others who lament the passing of the Braves name, Ms. Bordessa welcomes the opportunity to adopt a new mascot after so many years without one. “We need that boost,” she said. “We need to be something.”
The law requiring the name change is called the Racial Mascots Act. When the legislation was passed in 2015, it prohibited naming any public-school team The Redskins, but a 2024 amendment expanded the list of forbidden monikers to include the Apaches, the Big Reds, the Chiefs and Chieftains, the Chippewa, the Comanches, the Indians, the Savages, the Squaw, the Tribe, and the Braves.
The law allows schools that wish to retain any of those names to seek permission from a federally registered tribe that has jurisdiction in its region. Several Central Valley schools have received exemptions for their teams, including the Sanger High Apaches, the Modoc High Braves, and the Ripon High Indians.
But Tomales parents who reached out to the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria were rebuffed.
“The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria determined that they will not be engaging in this process and will not be holding a meeting regarding this matter,” Mr. Dunkle said last week.
A rancher whose family has lived in the area for generations expressed great frustration with the name change, as did his daughter, a graduate who helped construct the wrought iron Tomales Braves gate outside the school.
If the board must select a new name, she urged, it should choose the Wolves, which was the mascot before the Braves replaced it back in the 1940s.
But that name, too, was once discarded, along with its rakish-looking mascot, which the school said encouraged attendees at sporting events to direct “wolf whistles” and other rude behavior toward women.
Board member Stacy Lawson stressed that the school needs to keep adapting to the times.
“This is a real opportunity,” she said. “Our community today, and every year that’s going to follow, keeps changing.”
When a new name is finally selected, Mr. Harper said, the school will hire a real live human to design the logo.
“The students have been inundated with A.I. flyers, and they’re tired of them,” he said. “The message has been clear. Yes, we’ll hire a person to make the mascot.”