Linda McMahon Comes To Massapequa Amid Native American Mascot Ban

MASSAPEQUA, NY — Secretary of Education Linda McMahon visited Massapequa High School on Friday to discuss the school's efforts to keep its "Chiefs" mascot.

Her appearance comes after President Trump showed support on social media for Massapequa to maintain its Native American imagery, despite the state's mandate.

"This is not a First Amendment case," McMahon said. "This is Title VI Civil Rights case."

She claims the state's Native American imagery ban in Massapequa's crosshairs violates Title VI.

State officials can accept the findings, or the matter will be sent to the U.S. Department of Justice, Newsday reported.

"On March 20, 2025, Secretary McMahon emphatically declared that she was 'sending education back to the states where it so rightly belongs.' It is therefore shocking, but not at all surprising, to see the secretary completely reverse course by inserting herself and the federal government into this local matter," State Education spokesperson J.P. O'Hare said. "Equally troubling is the fact that a U.S. Secretary of Education would take time out of her schedule to disrupt student learning in the name of political theatre."

John Kane is a Native American who participated in the Indigenous Mascot Advisory Council for the New York State Education Department (NYSED), which ultimately made the 2023 ruling.

"The bottom line is all they're doing is reiterating the position they took from the beginning before they claimed to have done any investigation," Kane told Patch. "There's nothing new here."

The Massapequa School District had a lawsuit against the state dismissed in March.

While NYSED announced the ban in 2023, a memorandum calling for schools to stop using any Native American mascots, symbols and logos dates back to 2001.

"The fact that they're calling this a violation of Title VI now is kind of absurd," Kane said. "We're talking about not just a race of people, but an ethnicity, a culture that is distinct even from a nationality."

Kane said the controversial matter has been "clearly turned into a right, left issue, instead of a right and wrong issue."

Most of the community believes the Chief mascot featuring a headdress belongs to remain part of the high school. A "Save the Chief" fundraiser is set for June 7 with money going toward legal efforts to preserve the name, a Town of Oyster Bay spokesperson said.