Spirit Lake, IA (KICD)– The Spirit Lake School Board, as promised earlier this year, took up a public discussion Monday night over whether or not to retire its longstanding Indian mascot.

The discussion comes after the district received a letter earlier this year from the Spirit Lake Tribal Council in North Dakota asking officials to begin the process of removing the current mascot calling it offensive and insensitive.

Spirit Lake School opted hold of on this discussion until after school was out to keep the nearly 120-year-old mascot from becoming a distraction from the mission of providing students with a top quality education.

Monday’s discussion included time for the public to voice their opinion on matter which featured a fifty-fifty split including resident Vicky Larson who was hoping to see the mascot stay as it is.

Among those opposed to the current mascot was Kate Mendenhall who says the Indian connects Spirit Lake to the past with a change giving an opportunity to look more at the future.

When it came to board discussion, Jerome Mauw, the newest member, noted he was making his decision based on feedback he received from the community before even being appointed to his current seat.

Board member Luke Lundt added that no matter which direction the board were to go, there would always be opposition.

Not everyone with a vote was thinking along the same lines with Greta Gruys asking that the board take some time to consider feedback and not jump right into a decision.

Following roughly 45 minutes of public and board comments a motion was approved with a four to one vote to have the district stay the Spirit Lake Indians with Gruys being the sole no vote.