New York Education Department Demands Schools Replace Native American Team Names, Logos, and Mascots

Rockland Daily Staff

On Thursday, November 17, New York school districts were ordered by the State Education Department’s Senior Deputy Commissioner, James Baldwin, to replace any Native American team names, logos, or mascots.

Replacement must be made by the end of the 2022-23 school year, or state aid will be withheld and the school’s officers removed.

A school can only keep its mascots if it receives approval from a recognized Native American tribe.

“Schools are learning environments; students learn as much through observation of their surroundings as they do from direct instruction,” Baldwin writes in the New York State Education Department memo sent to the school districts.  “In addition to their legal obligations, boards of education that continue to utilize Native American mascots must reflect upon the message their choices convey to students, parents, and their communities.”

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