Mascots are supposed to instill pride and school spirit. But tradition aside, many are now deemed inappropriate and with good reason.

That certainly was the case with Turners Falls High School, which now is the Thunder instead of the Indians, and decades back, Frontier Regional School, which changed its mascot from Redskins to Red Hawks.

Now it is Mohawk Trail Regional School’s turn to assess its mascot. Mohawk’s mascot is the Warriors and its image is a profile of an Indian man wearing a full feathered headdress.

As discussion stands now, the school may retain the name Warriors and dispense with the image.

The regional school draws its name from the state highway, Mohawk Trail, aka Route 2, in western Franklin County that is a reference to the Indians who traveled through the area.

We expect it was considered a tribute of sorts to the area’s history when the school’s mascot was chosen.

But that was then and this is now. And attitudes have changed about what is fitting for a school mascot and what isn’t.

State Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, submitted a bill last month to ban state public schools from using Indian mascots. If successful, the bill would likely affect Mohawk’s anyway.

However, we like that the discussion over Mohawk’s mascot originated within the school community and not because it was forced to do so by law.

And unlike Turners and Frontier, the questions about Mohawk’s mascot were not instigated by the complaints of an outsider.

We believe this is worth noting.

In 2016, students were asked to consider the mascot’s meaning when a social studies class held an all-school debate on the subject. More recently student council members brought the idea of changing the mascot to the Local Education Council, which plans to seek community feedback.

Administrators are expected to gather public opinion by the end of the school year before making their recommendations to the School Committee, which has the ultimate decision.

Removing the image does come with a cost, since it can be found in several places around the school.

We agree wholeheartedly the image should be changed, especially since it is historically inaccurate. The image is of a Plains Indian.

But it goes deeper than that. As Co-Principal Marisa Mendonsa said, “The imagery is the main concern. We don’t want to depict the race of a group of people as a mascot.”

Changing the imagery would be a great start, but we would like the district to keep going and reconsider the Warriors nickname.

Understandably, retaining Warriors could be seen as a compromise, perhaps to appease alumnae.

And the word “warriors” can conjure up other definitions and images. A warrior is a brave fighter. Certainly, people have put their lives in danger for causes other than conquest.

But say the two words together — Mohawk Warriors — and it still conjures up an image that the school’s mascot are Indians.

We believe other words tied to Mohawk Trail Regional’s area could be used instead. We urge the school district to broaden this discussion.