Hart High School To Retire Indian Mascot By 2025

SANTA CLARITA (CBSLA) — Cheers and applause broke out Wednesday night after the  future of the controversial mascot at a famed Southern California high school was decided.

The Hart Union High School District Governing Board members held their final vote on whether to keep the school's mascot during an emotionally charged meeting that came after a year of heated debate over the Hart Indian.

In the end, the final vote to retire the mascot was held and the result was not even close with four board members voting in favor and one against.

"That's what we've been fighting for for the last year, and, frankly, 30, 40 years," one woman said.

"Well, it was sad," another woman said. "It was disheartening because I don't think the board got to hear what the Native American people actually want."

The mascot will be removed no later than 2025. The Indian has been Hart High School's mascot since the 1940s.

More about the district's process to making the decision can be found on the school's website.