Ed Rice: Maine schools show lack of respect with Indian mascots

While the community of Wells enjoys promoting itself, on its website, as “the friendliest town in Maine,” and its high school has been identified as one of the best in the nation and state, the school could gain a new title it may not want: last school in Maine to stop using a Native American mascot.

A total of 28 Maine schools – from Arundel to Fort Kent, Sanford to Wiscasset – have ended this practice over the past decade. Now, a lonely trio continues to resist: Nokomis of Newport Warriors, Skowhegan Indians and ... the Wells Warriors.

How ironic that a school with Wells’ extraordinary credits should be shooting itself in the foot with this totally unnecessary misstep. National publications, like U.S. News and World Report and Newsweek magazine, have ranked Wells High School as one of the top high schools in the country and, indeed, it ranked No. 1 in the state of Maine for the highest four-year graduation rate, at 99 percent for 2012.