The Indian head emblem embedded in a hallway floor of Park High School in Cottage Grove since 1965 has been removed, but it came out in pieces.
Four contractors told district officials in March it would be difficult to remove the emblem in one piece, Shelly Schafer, director of communications and public relations for South Washington County schools, said in a statement.
Doing so, they said, would require heavy equipment that would be hard to move into the building and could damage the floor.
“Even without considering the physical limitations and cost, no contractor could guarantee they could remove the emblem intact, based on how it was constructed,” Schafer said.
It was removed June 10.
“The lowest quote to potentially preserve the emblem was more than five times the amount to remove it,” Schafer said in an email.
But the mascot could show its face again: the pieces have been delivered to the American Indian Movement Interpretive Center in Minneapolis, where founder Clyde Bellecourt said they may be reassembled for an educational exhibit.
In 1994, Park changed the name of its sports teams from the Indians to the Wolfpack. The move was part of a national cultural reckoning over the use of American Indian imagery in commercial logos and mascots. But the emblem remained in the floor.
In February, members of the district’s American Indian Parent Committee told the school board the artwork was racist and should go. Others argued it should be kept, as part of school history and to honor American Indians.
District superintendent Keith Jacobus announced in March that the artwork would be removed.
Bellecourt said the district contacted them about taking possession of the mascot.