WEST HARTFORD, Conn. — In a 5-2 vote, the West Hartford Board of Education approved name changes for Hall and Conard high schools.
Hall’s new mascot will be the Titans and Conard, the Red Wolves, despite a lawsuit filed against the board Monday.
The name change Tuesday night comes after the Board of Education approved new names voted on and chosen by both schools over the past few months.
“Each respective school had well over 100 possible names and so they had to funnel that down so there was definitely enthusiasm and excitement for the new name and, really, a way of trying to build group community together moving forward," said Chair Dr. Lorna Thomas-Farquharson.
The new logos, unveiled Tuesday, are designed by students.
The mascots have been a controversial topic in town for several years since the board chose to prohibit mascots and names that are associated with any race or ethnicity back in 2015.
Conard and Hall changed their use of Native American imagery after the 2015 vote but kept the mascot names.
“I can somewhat understand chieftains being a little bit of a concern because it’s generally from a tribal culture, but what does that have to do with warriors. Warriors, by definition, has no reference at all to Native Americans,” one resident said during public comment at Tuesday night's board meeting.
The new names will be phased in at each school starting at the beginning of the new school year.
One day before the vote, West Hartford resident Scott Zweig filed a lawsuit against the Board of Education, citing procedural issues with the board’s motion to address the names.
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"The reason I filed the lawsuit is so that I can put them through their paces and so we’re going to let the court decide who followed the policies and who didn’t," Zweig said.
“As a proud Hall High School graduate, I think that the terms chieftain and warriors denote bravery and strength and honor that are not by definition offensive or racially insensitive,” Zweig added.
The board entered an executive session Tuesday night to discuss the litigation but decided to move forward with the vote to change names.
“I personally feel confident that the lawsuit filed by attorney Zweig is unlikely to succeed on the merits," Thomas-Farquharson said.
A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for July 7.
Elisha Machado is a reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at emachado@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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