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Grand Rapids to continue delay of Thunderhawk mascot change

The Grand Rapids Thunderhawks mascot.
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Grand Rapids School District
The Grand Rapids Thunderhawks mascot.

Three new School Board members agreed to continue the district's wait-and-see approach to updating the Thunderhawk due to a 2023 state law banning American Indian mascots.

GRAND RAPIDS — The Grand Rapids School Board discussed the Thunderhawk mascot at its work session Monday, Feb. 3, as Superintendent Matt Grose sought guidance on an upcoming report to the Legislature.

The school district was denied an exemption from a 2023 state law prohibiting American Indian mascots because of its apparent reference to Chief Thunderhawk, a companion of Sitting Bull in the 19th century.

Grose has questioned the decision. For one, when Grand Rapids changed its name from the Indians in the ‘90s, the Thunderhawk was selected as a combination of two popular options: the Thunder and the Hawks.

He’s also pointed to what he calls inconsistent application of the law, such as the Warroad Warriors, whose mascot of a Native American man was granted an exemption by Minnesota’s 11 tribes and the Tribal Nations Education Committee. The law requires unanimous approval for a district to keep an American Indian mascot.

“I can’t make sense of that. Our community can’t make sense of that. I don’t think reasonable people can make sense of that,” Grose told KAXE last year. “Whether the law was flawed or not, the application of the law’s been incredibly inconsistent and that’s really frustrating for districts.”

The Grand Rapids School District has so far waited to make any changes, in case of further clarification or support from the Legislature to help fund the process of replacing uniforms, signage and all other uses of the mascot.

Last year the Legislature pushed out the deadline to comply with the law until September 2026. As part of the change, the district must submit a progress report by Feb. 14 and another by Feb. 1, 2026.

“I feel pretty strongly about fighting this,” said David Cowan, who elected to the School Board in November 2024, at the work session.

“... What [the law] says is that 'a school may not have or adopt a name, symbol or image that depicts or refers to an American Indian Tribe, individual, custom or tradition.' And based on that very vague language, I would argue that we don’t do any of those things with our logo.”

The other five Board members agreed, and Chair Mark Schroeder pointed to the district’s budget situation.

David Cowan is running for Grand Rapids School Board in the 2024 election.
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David Cowan
David Cowan was elected to the Grand Rapids School Board in the 2024 election.

“I really have a hard time spending money to change the logo when we’re cutting teachers," he said. "That’s a really difficult step for me.”

“I don’t know how you can honestly look the community or teachers in the eye and say, ‘We’ve chosen to not fight this for you,’” Cowan added.

In a message to KAXE sent Tuesday, Grose said the report "will essentially say that we haven’t taken any action due to a lack of clarity, consistency and funding.”

State Sen. Robert Farnsworth, R-Hibbing, introduced a bill last month to give Grand Rapids $1 million "for the costs of removing and replacing an American Indian mascot on school facilities and equipment, including athletic uniforms, clocks, school signage, tribute markers, chairs, tables, entryway flooring, gymnasium flooring, athletic field artificial turf, and gymnasium wall mats."

Sen. Jason Rarick, R-Pine City, introduced a similar bill for Esko. Three bills have also been introduced aiming to modify or repeal the mascot prohibition

The bills were referred to the Senate Education Finance or Education Policy committees. Similar bills were introduced in the last session but did not receive committee hearings.

One difference between Warroad and Grand Rapids that may have been a factor is Warroad's history. The city was once the largest Ojibwe village in Minnesota and is part of the territory ceded to the United States by the Pembina and Red Lake Ojibwe in the Old Crossing Treaty of 1864. Red Lake Nation continues to manage nearby land in trust, including owning and operating one of three Seven Clans Casinos there.

Megan Buffington joined the KAXE newsroom in 2024 after graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Originally from Pequot Lakes, she is passionate about educating and empowering communities through local reporting.