Below are two relevant stories from April 2023 … one CNN, another New York Post

New York state education officials vote to prohibit public schools from using Indigenous team names, logos or mascot

CNN (April 23, 2023) — New York state education officials voted unanimously this week to prohibit public schools from using or displaying Indigenous team names, logos, or mascots to represent the school.

Throughout the state, boards of education must commit through a resolution to eliminating the use of all Indigenous imagery by the end of the current school year, and the prohibited names, logos, or mascots must be eliminated by the 2024-25 school year, according to regulations laid out by the New York State Board of Regents.

The amendment, which was approved Tuesday, does not require public schools, school buildings, or school districts named after an Indigenous tribe to change their names.

Educators are still allowed to use Indigenous imagery for the purposes of classroom instruction, the regulations say, and schools may keep Indigenous imagery if a written agreement exists between a federally recognized tribal nation and the school using a name, mascot or logo associated with that tribe.

The changes will become effective as a permanent rule on May 3, according to the Board of Regents. If school districts fail to comply, school officers could be removed or state aid could be withheld, according to the regulations.

The National Congress of American Indians voiced its support for the changes in a statement to CNN.

“Native ‘themed’ mascots dehumanize Native people and diminish the enduring vibrancy and diversity of our distinct cultures, values, and lifeways,” Executive Director Larry Wright Jr. wrote in a statement. “Crucially, research in recent years documents the well-known harms that the monikers, images, and fan behaviors associated with these mascots cause Native people, particularly Native youth.”

There are “issues that will need to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis,” the state Department of Education said in a statement, and more guidance is forthcoming but mirrors the language laid out in the regulations, according to the department.

“The Department can provide assistance to any school or district that has questions,” the statement says. “The Department’s position is that any team names, logos, or mascots that contain vestiges of prohibited team names, logos, or mascots will not be considered acceptable.”

NY schools banned from calling teams Warriors, Chiefs, Braves, using Native American mascots

New York Post (April 18, 2023) - Public school teams in New York will soon be barred from calling themselves names like the Warriors, Chiefs, Redmen or Braves following a Tuesday ruling by Albany education honchos.

The Board of Regents, which presides over the state’s education department, voted to phase out Native American-related nicknames as part of a politically correct national effort to scrub racially insensitive imagery from sports teams.

Nearly 60 school districts will be required to “eliminate” all use of Indigenous-related mascots and imagery by the end of the 2024-2025 school year, or risk losing state aide, board members unanimously ruled.

The new ban, supported by the Shinnecock Indian Nation and Oneida Indian Nation, does not apply to tribal schools, education officials said.

“It’s the right thing to do. Our desire is to elevate people, not diminish them. We want to elevate all people,” Regent Kathleen Cashin told The Post over the phone.

“The Department does not anticipate that any team names, logos, or mascots that contain vestiges of prohibited team names, logos, or mascots will be considered acceptable,” New York State Department of Education spokesperson JP O’Hare wrote in an email.

Groundwork for the new changes had been laid out long before the NFL’s Washington Redskins and MLB’s Cleveland Indians changed their names to the Commanders and Guardians respectively in 2022.

Many parents and students in some districts feel like their team’s nicknames pay homage to the rich Native American heritage of the state and the Iroquois tribal confederacy from which countless town names are derived.

Multiple residents of Mahopac in Putnam County had told the board that their school’s “Indian name came about to honor those people[,] not deride them,” according to the proposal that was approved Tuesday.

Regents officials countered that the name “Indian” was an inaccurate historical term derived from Christopher Columbus’ failure to distinguish North America from the West Indies.

Mahopac reportedly moved to change the nickname earlier this year as West Islip officials in Suffolk County had reportedly removed controversial logos portraying their Redman mascots from the exterior of the high school, but had thus far resisted a name change.