State education officials are criticizing the Trump administration’s strict position on a Long Island school’s decision to rebrand its Native American mascot, arguing that the federal government is trivializing civil rights laws.
Recently, the U.S. Department of Education flagged the Connetquot Central School District for violating civil rights after the school board made a minimal adjustment to its mascot’s name in order to follow New York state law prohibiting the use of Native American names in schools.
Officials from Albany are standing their ground on this issue.
“The U.S. Department of Education is making a mockery of civil rights laws in our nation,” stated the New York State Department of Education. “They haven’t provided any clarification on whose civil rights were affected by changing the name from Thunderbirds to T-Birds.”
“The USDOE has not clarified why it continues to uphold a public consent decree with New York school districts regarding Native American mascots,” the statement added. “NYSED is committed to eliminating harmful and outdated representations of Indigenous peoples and will not compromise the dignity of the students and families we serve for political gain.”
The Trump administration has taken issue with the state’s ban on Native American names and imagery, pointing to both Connetquot and Massapequa High School, which is also resisting the state in order to retain its “Chiefs” nickname.
The state Board of Regents has voted to collaborate with Native American leaders to “end the use of derogatory Native American names and mascots” in public schools.
“They felt compelled to act because certain Native American names and images reinforce harmful stereotypes, clearly detrimental to children,” the statement noted.
In September, the Connetquot District reached a compromise, agreeing to simplify the Thunderbirds mascot to the T-Birds to settle the controversy.
However, federal education officials contend that even this change breaches the Civil Rights Act of 1964, arguing that civil rights legislation does not impose the same standards on names and images related to other racial or ethnic groups.
In August, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, acting on directives from President Trump, criticized the state’s efforts against two Long Island school districts, taking aim at “woke ideologues who are attempting to force them to abandon their cherished chiefs and thunderbirds.”
