NY Board Of Regents To Take Up Indigenous Mascot Issue Tuesday

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — The New York Board of Regents is expected to adopt a regulation Monday 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.

Many did, including Ossining and Rhinebeck. Others took longer, including Nyack, which stopped using the mascot in 2003 but kept the name until 2020, and Katonah-Lewisboro, which made the change in 2020 after a year-long process.

In November, the Associated Press reported that NYSED officials believed there were about 50 to 60 school districts in New York still using these kinds of mascots. Two are in the Hudson Valley: Mahopac and Wappingers.

Officials in Wappingers and Mahopac reacted differently to the news of the new rule.

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.

Also, the district appointed a large committee to come up with options for new nicknames. Students in kindergarten through grade 12 will vote on them May 16, the day of the budget vote and board election.

But the main reason for the new regulation is the Cambridge school district in Washington County.

In 2021, its trustees decided to make the change. But then a new majority took over the Board of Education and reversed the decision. Concerned parents asked state Education Commissioner Betty Rosa to intervene.

The trustees sued, saying the state education commissioner was abusing her discretion. They lost one appeal — In June, the state Supreme Court said the actual abuse of discretion was by the school board, given the district’s own diversity policy and that two decades had passed since the state's directive. The Board of Education filed another in February, leading one trustee to resign in protest over the continued use of taxpayer money for the legal fees.

With that fight ongoing, SED reminded school districts in November to drop Native American symbols or depictions from their mascots, team names and logos, and said to do so by the end of the school year or forgo financial aid.

The state's Board of Regents published the proposed rule for a 60-day comment period, which ended in March. In addition to prohibiting the use of Indigenous names, mascots, or logos by public schools, the regulation:

• defines Indigenous name, mascot, or logo and provides that such definition does not include a public school building, public school, or school district named after an Indigenous tribe;
• provides timelines by which such names, mascots, and/or logos must be eliminated;
• creates exceptions for federally or State-recognized tribes to (1) utilize such names, mascots, and/or logos for sports teams comprised of their tribal members; and (2) allows a public school to utilize an Indigenous name, mascot, or logo if an agreement exists in writing between the tribal nation and public school prior to the effective date of the proposed rule; and
• provides that public schools shall prohibit school officers, employees, and all individuals when located on school property or at a school function from utilizing or promoting any Indigenous name, logo, or mascot. This provision does not apply to individuals who are members of tribal nations.

The Board of Regents meets April 17-18. The meeting will be webcast.