The New York State Board of Regents unanimously approved new rules Tuesday that prohibit the use of indigenous names, mascots, and logos by public school districts.
The new regulations, which actually began as a proposal from a former State Education Commissioner in 2001, require districts to commit to changes by the end of the 2022-2023 school year and develop a plan to eliminate the use of all indigenous iconography by no later than the end of the 2024-2025 school year.
If districts fail to comply with the state's directive, schools could be penalized by having school officers removed or state education funding withheld.
Such rules could apply to districts like the City of Tonawanda, Iroquois, West Seneca, Cheektowaga, Barker, and Salamanca. Although other Western New York schools have already changed their names.
Most recently, the Jamestown Red Raiders initiated a change towards a "big red cat" instead of using indigenous images. Back in 2015, the Lancaster Redskins were reborn as the Lancaster Legends.
A West Seneca spokesperson previously told 2 On Your Side it would be changing the logo for its West High School from the "Indians" to the letter "W" with slogans of "Bleed Blue" and "Go West."
The state has provided a way to exempt certain school districts that consult with Native American nations and then appeal to the state education department.
2 On Your Side has previously reported that Seneca Nation Leaders and the Salamanca City Central School District have been in talks to retain the name "Warriors."
The Salamanca School District is in the unique position of being located in Seneca Nation territory. Several members of the school board are Senecas and 38% of the student body is also Native American.
Salamanca Superintendent Mark Beehler told us his district actually surveyed the student body. "The preponderance of feedback has been that we are comfortable identifying as the Warriors. We don't have a mascot but we do have a logo that is a historically accurate depiction of a Seneca male. Those two things together essentially put us in conflict with what is now the new Board of Regents regulations."
Some districts around Western New York and the state already made changes amidst community discord, lawsuits, and legal challenges to the state education department. The state school boards association raised state jurisdiction and local elected control questions.
Some districts also say elements of Native American heritage will be lost
Also for taxpayers, existing signs, depictions, or team uniforms which must be changed do add up according to Beehler.
"Over a period of what would be two years, the district needs to change - easily hundreds of thousands of dollars that is already going to be budgeted for teaching and learning - that will have to come out of the teaching and learning."
The Board of Regents responds any costs are outweighed by removing what is deemed offensive images and that districts knew this was coming.
John Kane is a member of a Native American advisory panel who told us in March, "This is the problem that we had - we have as Native people in the manipulation that some of these schools are trying to do to keep from changing. Really changing."
In a statement shared with 2 On Your Side, Tuesday Seneca Nation President Rickey Armstrong Sr. said that "The Seneca Nation will carefully consider how that standard may potentially apply within our community.”
"Respect for Native people and our history should always be the expectation, not the exception," Armstrong added, however.
"We believe the State’s provision for agreements between school districts and Native Nations should be rare and limited, rather than an open invitation for districts to go ‘approval shopping’ among Native Nations."