BUFFALO, N.Y. — A Western New York town is speaking out against a recent directive from the State Education Department.
Last month, school districts across the state were told to not use Native American symbols or mascots as part of their school name, mascots sports teams, or logos.
But Thursday night, the Town of Marilla said it doesn't want a name change and held a town meeting to discuss adopting a resolution in opposition to the school potentially eliminating its "Chief" mascot and logo.
While no official decisions were made and the vote was tabled to their next meeting in two weeks, the town’s leadership expressed the pride they have for the existing name and mascot and said that the movement to change it in their eyes is disrespectful to the Native American populations because they see it as removing them from history.
It’s an opinion the town supervisor says is shared among residents.
“We're not afraid to take a stand here, and voice our opinion,” said Earl Gingrich Jr., Marilla Town Supervisor. “That's our job as elected official. We represent the people, and if we don't speak for them, who's going to be their voice?”
This comes in response to a meeting last night where the school district’s leadership held a discussion on how the district should proceed. Its board members' main concern was the costs of the change and not wanting it to fall on taxpayers.
But they came to the conclusion that the state’s memo was too vague as in this case the school’s name and mascot — the Iroquois Chiefs — both have Native American ties.
“There’s just so many questions that we have, or that I have right now,” said Charles Specht, Iroquois Central School District board member. “And until we get some direction from the state telling us what they actually mean by this and what the processes are, I think our hands are pretty much tied at this point in time. We’re all aware that this is what the state wants us to do. Now, whether that happens or not remains to be seen.”
The Iroquois Central School District isn’t the only one to keep an eye on in this matter moving forward.
Other districts in the area such as Cheektowaga and Tonawanda also have mascots and logos with Native American symbolism, and others in the area have already taken action like West High School in West Seneca, which is in the process of changing its Indian logo to the letter "W."