Friday, Mar. 26, the Drake Leadership Council (DLC) removed “Olema Trail” from the name change process. High School 1327 (HS 1327) Principal, Liz Seabury, sent out an email on Monday, Mar. 29, informing HS 1327 staff of the decision.

“…the DLC/Site Council has decided to not consider the nominated name, Olema Trail. The representatives of the Tribal Government do not support the use of a Miwok name or word as part of a school name at this time… The Site Council decided on Friday not to pursue an indigenous name for the school,” Seabury said.

In removing “Olema Trail” from the top two names, the DLC respects the wishes of the Tribal Government.  “Bon Tempe” is the only remaining candidate at the moment.

“Part of the name change process is to be inclusive of certain groups in our community that need to have their voice heard to ensure we are not further minoritizing members of our community,” Seabury said in her email. 

The decision to remove “Olema Trail” from the name change process is a result of the Tribal Government’s opposition to the use of Indigenous names as possible new options for the school’s name. This decision means that no Native American names can be used as nominees for the name change. 

If all Native American names had been taken out of the running earlier in the process, different choices might have surfaced as the top names. In addition, the community might have chosen differently for the top two names.

This shift in the name change process might lead to a backtrack, other options that might not have been considered when Native American names were, can now become available for voting again.