April 28 2021
The PPS School Board OK's an alternative mascot for Ida B. Wells-Barnett High School in Southwest Portland.
After an abrupt pivot away from an evergreen tree as a new mascot, Ida B. Wells-Barnett High School will now be known as the Guardians. Guardians will replace the school's current Trojan mascot.
The revised mascot was approved unanimously Tuesday, April 27, by the Portland Public Schools Board. Nearly a month earlier, the board paused its consideration of the Evergreens as the Southwest Portland high school's new mascot after a board member noted concern from community members of using a tree at a high school that had recently been renamed to honor a historic Black journalist and NAACP co-founder. The tree could conjure up reminders of lynching, Board Director Michelle DePass noted.