A faculty district on Lengthy Island estimates it’ll spend a daft $23 million to erase its “Thunderbirds” group title — because it’s pressured to adjust to a state ban on Native American logos and imagery.
Connetquot, whose baseball group lately received the Suffolk County championship, has been in quiet communication with the state of New York and expects to completely part out its longtime moniker by March of subsequent 12 months, in accordance with paperwork obtained by The Submit.
“The District has invested significant funds in larger-scale athletic costs at the high school and middle schools without the Thunderbirds name or imagery,” Superintendent Joseph Centamore wrote to Dave Frank, assistant commissioner of the state Division of Training.
“These costs included the replacement of turf fields, indoor gym floors and equipment, and other fixtures, as well as repainting projects throughout the schools totaling $23,620,000,” he stated within the letter, dated Could 6.
Connetquot can even should spend “an additional $323,470.42” on “scorers’ tables, cheer equipment, wall pads, scoreboards, additional uniforms, and certain banners and signage.”
The district declined to remark.
The Thunderbirds, which use no related imagery, shares its title with a Canadian Hockey League group primarily based outdoors Seattle and an Air Power demonstration squadron that performs at Jones Seaside.
The district has been combating in courtroom since 2023 with fellow Native American-named districts on Lengthy Island, together with Massapequa, Wantagh and Wyandanch.
Nevertheless, a chief justice dismissed the go well with in March, however solely Massapequa amended its grievance to maintain the struggle going.
President Trump intervened in April, declaring “LONG LIVE THE MASSAPEQUA CHIEFS!” and ordered Secretary of Training Linda McMahon to research the problem at a nationwide stage.
Regardless of the presidential help, Centamore’s latest letter requested an extension past the June 30 deadline set by the Board of Regents to adjust to the state ban.
He added that the college has been rebranding for the previous 5 years and “has completed at least 75% of the necessary work for compliance.”
The district was granted a 12 months’s extension final week.
On paper, Wantagh can be backing off and allotted a staggering $418,000 “for the purpose of working on mascot-related projects,” in accordance with a deadline extension request Superintendent John C. McNamara despatched to Frank on April 24.
The true value might be nearer to $700,000 for Wantagh, which has 2,850 college students from kindergarten by way of twelfth grade, in accordance with a consultant.
“Simultaneously, the district remains committed to preserving our ‘Warrior’ name,” McNamara and his board wrote in a latest neighborhood letter after their 2026 extension was lately permitted.
“The extension granted to our district is significant as it allows us more time not only for thoughtful implementation if needed, but also for the legal proceedings concerning our appeal to reach a resolution.”
Chief concern
The struggle continues for Massapequa and its Chiefs group, with McMahon lately pledging federal intervention and calling the ban a civil rights subject as a result of it singles out Native American tradition.
Massapequa is anticipating to should pay roughly $1 million if it’s pressured to rebrand as a part of the ban, which threatened colleges by saying those that don’t comply would face lack of state funding and different sanctions.
The district’s homegrown Harvard lawyer, one-time Chief Oliver Roberts, is now sending a letter to New York’s Indigenous Mascot Advisory Group, demanding an extension for Massapequa.
Roberts wrote that the state is “compelled to extend its enforcement deadlines” on behalf of McMahon’s federal findings that fall below Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
“The District can’t, below any circumstances, lawfully interact in discriminatory conduct in opposition to Indigenous people, teams, college students, staff, or residents, “he wrote.
“Nor can it erase or suppress Indigenous cultural identity at the direction of the Regents,” Roberts added, signing the letter, “Once a Chief, always a Chief.”
Frank responded final week to the federal authorities’s discriminatory findings — and risk to contain the Justice Division — in a letter that implies increasing the ban to all ethnic group names the state deems offensive.
“That’s their workaround … we’ve demonstrated that this regulation was not a good idea,” Massapequa Faculty Board President Kerry Wachter instructed The Submit at a “Save The Chiefs” rally Saturday.
“Now you’re wanting to put another unfunded mandate on top of all these districts who are just barely making it, just to not give Massapequa the win?”
