The Niskayuna School District wants the nickname | News

“There are schools with team names or team logos that are undeniably linked to indigenous cultures,” he said. “We’ve seen that happen across the state at schools that have adopted names like the Indians, the Redskins or the Chiefs. In each of these cases, these schools have made a very concerted effort to evaluate and rebrand their programs. Other schools in the second category, such as Niskayuna, have either proposed and followed the path to retire the offensive images and mascots, or to retain names in cases where they have previously done that work to the satisfaction of the community.”

The state guidelines regarding mascot regulations state that districts that have never used Native images in connection with their team names will not be required to change them, but that districts that “currently use or previously used team names associated with Native images or symbols, should do this. change the name of their team.”

The May 2023 state guidelines also informed districts that school boards would be responsible for determining whether their team names are prohibited by the state ordinance.

“It is becoming increasingly clear that the authority for this decision lies with our board,” Mummenthey said.

Niskayuna’s superintendent said the district is closely monitoring a federal lawsuit filed by four New York school districts challenging the state’s mandate to eradicate native mascots and team names.

“There were some schools, particularly in the Long Island region, that challenged the state’s authority to impose this mandate,” Mummenthey said. “More importantly, we looked very closely at the state’s own interpretation of the rules and their application to schools with similar circumstances to Niskayuna.”

Board of Education President Kimberly Tully noted at the June 11 meeting that the district should wait to see how the legal challenges against the state rules go before taking additional action before the June 2025 deadline.