A San Diego high school is scrapping a mascot that’s stood for nearly seven decades after California lawmakers expanded a statewide ban on Native American-themed team names.
The San Diego Unified School District voted on Tuesday to change Clairemont High School’s “Chieftains” nickname to “Captains,” citing a 2024 law that prohibits public schools from using terms including “Chiefs” and “Chieftains” starting July 1.
The new name will take effect in the 2026–27 school year, with a multi-year rebranding effort to follow.
While the nickname change will begin this fall, the full rebrand is expected to take up to three years to complete as the campus phases out the “Chieftains” name across uniforms, athletic facilities, signage, printed materials and the gym floor.
Existing gear and branding will be replaced on a rolling basis to manage costs, meaning visual remnants of the old identity could remain in place during the transition.
The decision followed a nearly yearlong review that began last April, when the district launched a formal process to comply with the state’s expanded mascot ban.
A 10-person naming committee made up of students, staff, community members and district representatives hosted six town halls, opened submissions for new name ideas and conducted a community survey that drew more than 500 responses.
California lawmakers first stepped into the mascot debate in 2015, when then-Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 30 banning public schools from using the term “Redskins,” effective in 2017.
The measure made California the first state in the nation to prohibit that nickname in K-12 schools.
The effort widened dramatically in 2024, when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 3074, expanding the prohibition to include terms such as “Apaches,” “Braves,” “Chiefs” and “Chieftains.”
The law takes effect July 1, 2026, and applies to public schools statewide.
Under the statute, schools can retain a prohibited name only if they secure written consent from a local federally recognized tribe. Schools operated by tribes are exempt.
Campuses that fail to comply could face penalties under the state’s uniform complaint procedures.
The legislation has already prompted a wave of changes across Southern California.
In Orange County, Fullerton Union High School in Fullerton is retiring its longtime “Indians” nickname and will become the “Red Hawks” beginning in the 2026–27 school year.
In San Bernardino County, Alta Loma High School in Rancho Cucamonga dropped the “Braves” and adopted the “Lions” after a community review process.
In Los Angeles County, William S. Hart High School in Santa Clarita replaced the “Indians” with the “Hawks” ahead of the new law’s deadline.
And in Santa Fe Springs, Santa Fe High School — long known as the “Chiefs” — has launched a formal process to select a new nickname in response to the state mandate, though a replacement has not yet been finalized.
