Clairemont High School could have a new mascot starting next school year. On Tuesday, the San Diego Unified School District’s board will vote on a switch from Chieftains to Captains.
The school’s mascot has been the Chieftains since it opened in 1958. Signs and murals outside the school depict a caricature of an Indigenous man.
In 2024, the California legislature passed a bill prohibiting schools from using derogatory Native American terms as team names or mascots, including Chieftains.
“There had been concern over the years about the name and, you know, people feeling uncomfortable with it,” board vice president Sabrina Bazzo said in an interview. “The state law is what really pushed this process through.”
In March 2025, San Diego Unified’s Indian Education Program submitted a letter to the school board and superintendent signed by local Indigenous community members.
“For decades the Chieftains mascot has been a source of anti-Indigenous racism because of the stereotypical imagery and portrayal that Clairemont High School has permitted and promoted,” they wrote. “From the Charlie Chieftain caricature to the chants and imagery used at school events, Native American people and culture have been a source of ridicule and mockery at the school.”
This isn’t the first time a school in the district has changed its mascot. After a student-led petition in 2021, San Diego Unified renamed Junipero Serra High School to Canyon Hills High School and swapped its conquistador mascot for a rattlesnake.
It would be the first time a San Diego Unified school has changed its mascot because of the California Racial Mascots Act. School and district leaders held town hall meetings and asked community members for suggestions.
“It was a positive process,” said Clairemont High School Principal Karly Johnstone. “What was nice is that it was accepted that we weren't debating the ‘why,’ we were working on the ‘what.’”
The four finalists were Aviators, Captains, Seahawks and Trailblazers. More than 500 people ranked the finalists, according to the district, and Captains came out on top.
Johnstone likes that it signifies leadership. Plus, it ties in well with nearby Marston Middle School’s mascot, the Mariners.
“Clairemont's also historically been a military community,” Bazzo said. “And it's not gender specific. It could be a man, it could be a woman, it could be an animal with a captain's hat on. So we like the idea that there was flexibility around how we can use that.”
The school plans to work with a graphic designer to come up with a new logo. If the school board approves the new mascot, they’ll have three years to update things like signs and sports uniforms.
