Mt. Diablo District Approves Retiring Concord High School’s ‘Minutemen’ Mascot

The Mt. Diablo Unified School District Governing Board voted 4-1 Wednesday to retire the “Minutemen” mascot at Concord High School and adopt a new mascot.

The suggestion for the new mascot name for the school is the “Bears”.

The school board last voted on this measure at a June 28 meeting, which failed 2-2.

In 2021, the Mt. Diablo Unified School District Governing Board updated their mascot policy, requiring schools to choose non-human mascots in the case that the current one is deemed offensive or insensitive. The school board said that a student committee was formed last year at Concord High School and that students chose to replace the school’s mascot, which depicts a Revolutionary War militia member holding a musket, with a bear.

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Student trustee Susanna Barrios said that many students she talked to did not even know what a minuteman was and given that the school is majority Latino, did not feel represented by the mascot.

“I want to change the mascot to something that they have pride in and trust in,” said Barrios.

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