NY Board Of Regents Bans Native American Mascots At Schools: Reports

NEW YORK, NY — The state Board of Regents reportedly voted unanimously to ban schools from using Native American mascots, team names and logos on Tuesday.

As Patch previously reported, the New York Board of Regents had been expected to adopt a regulation fortifying the state Education Department's 22-year-old rule about school mascots, nicknames and imagery based on indigenous people. In 2001, then-Commissioner of Education Richard Mills said the use of Native American symbols or depictions as mascots could become a barrier to building a safe and nurturing school community and improving academic achievement for all students — and recommended districts change as soon as possible.

School districts now have to formally commit to abiding by the new rule by the end of this school year, according to Newsday. Schools have until the end of the 2024-25 school year to remove Native American references from uniforms, scoreboards, fields and buildings on school property.

Schools that fail to comply with the rule could lose state funding, and officials could lose their jobs, according to the report.

In November, The Associated Press reported that state education officials believed there were about 50 to 60 school districts in New York still using these kinds of mascots.

The guidance could affect several school districts on Long Island, including Sachem, Brentwood, Manhasset, Massapequa, Sewanhaka, and Syosset. All have been cited in petitions on change.org. It could also affect two in the Hudson Valley: Mahopac and Wappingers.

Wappingers Superintendent Dwight Bonk told Patch on Friday that the district awaited the regulation.

"Once we receive it, the district will be consulting with our attorneys to consider the steps needed to adhere to the directives," he said. "We need to find out exactly what they are requiring."

The Mahopac Board of Education decided in December to only put an "M" on the artificial turf field being replaced, instead of the M plus arrow and feather the district has used for years since it dropped the headdress imagery of the indigenous people of the Plains.