COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A commission created by Gov. John Hickenlooper has determined that Colorado public schools should eliminate all American Indian mascots, imagery and names.

After visiting four communities where American Indian mascots are ingrained in high school life, the commission established four guiding principles:

The elimination of derogatory and offensive American Indian mascots, imagery and names, and a recommendation for communities to review their depictions in public forums.

The recognition and respect of tribal sovereignty and a recommendation for schools to enter into formal relationships with federally recognized tribes to retain their American Indian imagery.

The recognition and respect of local control by elected boards of education and an active involvement of local communities, students, and citizens around the topic of American Indian mascots.

Promotion of American Indian history and culture in schools.

The committee was made up of tribal leaders, school officials and students, and they all agreed the responsibility boils down to schools being intentional moving forward.

“I think it’s really dumb because why change it if its been here for so long,” said freshman Heather Knight.

That was the reaction many students shared at Cheyenne Mountain High School, a name which honors the Cheyenne Indian tribe.

“It’s just been this way for so long that I just don’t think it would be right to change it,” said sophomore Isabella Middlemiss.

“I’m a little Navajo and plus my family has been going to this high school for a long time so I think changing it would be an outrage,” said sophomore Paul Surniak.

District 12 superintendent Walter Cooper served on the commission and said no legislative mandates would be enforced in part due to the complexity surrounding the issue.

“There is a lot of disagreement, even among native American tribal leaders, as to what’s appropriate, and what is inappropriate and what they think is acceptable or unacceptable,” he said.

The underlying recommendation is that if a school wishes to keep their American Indian mascot, they should build a relationship with that tribe. But since that can take time, Cheyenne Mountain High School said they can take other immediate actions.

“We need to make sure that we don’t have some of those inappropriate or offensive representations on apparel or a wall,” said Cooper.

Moving forward, it boils down to schools being responsible and intentional when it comes to representing American Indian mascots.

“If we are going to use a race of humans, represent a race of humans as our mascot, then we have to be sensitive to that and we have to do it in a manner that those individuals feel respected,” Cooper said.

Many FOX21 viewers responded to a Twitter poll Wednesday asking whether or not using American Indian mascots in schools is wrong. About 40 percent of you said yes, while 60 percent said no.

I want to know your thoughts! Is using American Indian mascots in high schools wrong?— KMcMackin (@KalynMcMackin) April 20, 2016

KDVR contributed to this report.