Several complaints were lodged over the years to change the mascot. In 1991, the Quincy School Committee overrode Superintendent Robert Ricci's decision to remove the mascot. The school was investigated in the 1990s by civil rights officials from the U.S. Department of Education, the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination and Quincy's municipal human rights commission, however the mascot was cleared of the accusations after extensive investigation. In 2017, Mayor Thomas P. Koch called Yakoo a symbol of pride and said the issue shouldn't be dictated by "social justice zealots out there who know what’s best for everybody."