Over 130 public schools in New York will be undergoing a significant change in the next two years.
No, they’re not getting more funding. They're not going to make their students proficient in math or reading. They’re not being banned from teaching toxic progressive ideologies in their classrooms either (although that would be great). Instead, this plethora of schools will be forced to change their mascot nicknames and logos if there is any Indian element within them.
Roughly 133 schools in 55 districts will have to undergo these changes by the end of the 2024-25 school year or risk not receiving federal aid. That means schools like the Mahopac Indians, the Mohonasen Warriors, and the Canandaigua Braves will all have to receive submissions for new nickname ideas.
The Board of Regents, a group that oversees The Empire State’s education department, approved a proposal suggesting the change on Tuesday.
“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 New York Post. (Want to elevate people? Make sure they can read at grade level.)
How does naming your team the “Indians,” “Warriors,” or “Braves” diminish anyone? Doesn’t that instead communicate that these schools admire Indian history or bravery or fierceness so much that they were willing to name their sports team after it?
This proposal’s approval comes 22 years after former education commissioner Richard Mills began advocating for the change, saying that schools that have Indian mascots can create “a barrier to building a safe and nurturing school community and improving academic achievement for all students.”
That’s only true if you’re looking to find something offensive, which most people aren't.
One parent who graduated from Mohonasen High School in Schenectady County rightly stated that changing her school’s nickname from “Warrior” to something else would be counterproductive and highly unnecessary.
“We shouldn’t be erasing history, we should be learning from it,” Danielle Ciampino said. “I know I am in the vast majority when I say we want to keep our Warrior name and should be allowed to do so. I will forever be a Mohonasen Warrior."
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