School Superintendent Would 'Really Like To Keep Warrior Name'

WANTAGH, NY — The banning Native American logos is part of a recent state mandate that is impacting Wantagh. The Union Free School District passed a resolution to move forward with the state Department of Education's (NYSED) directive, but it's not completely embraced.

"The Board's position is they certainly understand the state's position of wanting us to move away from the imagery that certain Native American groups may find offensive," Superintendent John McNamara told Patch. "We appreciate that position. That being said, they'd really like to keep Warrior name."

The state denied Wantagh's request to maintain the "Warrior," citing if the name was tied to Indigenous imagery, it needs to be replaced.

"The Warrior name is a significant part of this community," McNamara said.

Along with the history "Warrior" has in Wantagh, McNamara pointed to the high cost — of more than $700,000 — involved in swapping out the Warrior logo and name across the high school grounds.

"To just change out the imagery, we can do probably at about half that," he said. "We're really hopoing for the state to see the gray area and meet us halfway. They've been unwilling to do that."

The Board is moving forward with feedback from the community and hopes, together in the fall, "to start to make some decisions from there," McNamara said.

His hope is rebranding the logo will allow the Warrior to have a new context and, "do so in a way that, I think, meets the spirit of the regulation as well as meets what many in our community are calling for."

The Massapequa Board of Education said it voted to go forward with the state's ruling, despite exploring legal options to keep the "Chiefs" imagery and name. Wantagh, however, is still mulling it over.

"The Board has consulted with an outside counsel, but they haven't made any decisions about whether or not they're going to pursue that," McNamara said.

The superintendent would not engage in hypotheticals or "what ifs," regarding the state's ongoing refusal of the Warrior name.

"What I can tell you is they passed a resolution on June 15 to comply with the regulation and they're looking to engage in dialogue to see where we can ultimately land," McNamara said.