The House on Thursday gave final approval to a bill that will ban the use of most Indian mascots and nicknames in Colorado public schools, colleges and universities. Barring any
The House on Thursday gave final approval to a bill that will ban the use of most Indian mascots and nicknames in Colorado public schools, colleges and universities. Barring any last-minute concerns from the Senate on amendments, it will head to Gov. Jared Polis desk.
Senate Bill 116 was amended by the House Education Committee during its trip through the lower chamber, stripping the ability of citizens to challenge the law through a citizen initiative. The bill now has a safety clause, meaning it goes into effect upon signature of the governor.
The committee, however, did soften the blow for the nearly two dozen public schools that use Indian mascots and that are not part of cooperative agreements with Native American tribes. The expense of replacing sports uniforms, painted symbols on gym floors and the like has been cited as a burden to their budgets, so the committee added an amendment to allow those schools to tap the Build Excellent Schools Today fund.
Kyle Newton is getting closer to making his head coaching debut for the Yuma High School wrestling teams. An assistant for the past few years, Newton was promoted to head coach last spring following the retirement of Rory Lynch. His hiring came at a time when there was not a lot of actual wrestling he could do with his grapplers, and then came the delay to the wrestling season until this month. “The kids are ready to do something again,” Newton said earlier this week. The first official practice finally was this past Monday. The boys team opens the shortened Season B campaign next Thursday, January 28, at home with a triangular against Highland and Sterling. The girls open Saturday, January 30, with a quadrangular at Doherty High School in Colorado Springs.