The Manhasset School District, like Sewanhaka, will also be awaiting further guidance from the state’s education department before making a decision on potentially changing its mascot.

The state DOE released a memo on Nov. 17 ordering school districts to stop using mascots, team names or imagery depicting Native Americans by the end of the 2022-2023 school year or risk losing state aid.

Manhasset Superintendent Gaurav Passi did not commit to changing the district’s “Indians” mascot in a statement to Blank Slate Media Friday.

“​​We are awaiting regulations that the State Education Department indicated they would be putting forth in the coming month clarifying the District’s obligations,” Passi said in a statement.

Sewanhaka Superintendent James Grossane said at the district’s Dec. 1 Board of Education meeting that they are also waiting to receive regulations from the education department. The district mascot is also the “Indians.”

“This was a topic of great discussion at the county’s superintendent meeting last week and the advice we received and are following is we are waiting for the regulations,” Grossane said.

The Sewanhaka superintendent also made mention of online petitions that circulated in 2020 to have his district and Manhasset change their mascots. Manhasset’s petition, organized by alum Jo Trigg, has gained nearly 6,000 signatures since it was launched two years ago.

“To prove how wrong this mascot is, consider a mascot called the Blacks, the Jews, the Caucasians, the Asians, image and all?” Trigg wrote in the petition. “If it sounds completely ridiculous and offensive, it is because it is.  There’s no way to justify the mascot as it is.”

Trigg recently told Patch.com that the state’s education department made a memorandum more than 20 years ago that schools that depict Native American imagery should stop doing so.

“Many other states with significant Indigenous populations made these mascot changes back in the ’90s,” Trigg told Patch. “We have to ask ourselves what has taken so long?”

The history of Manhasset’s “Indian” mascot is traced back to the Matinecock Indian Tribe, a group that occupied a majority of the Town of North Hempstead.

The Matinecocks were forcibly removed from the territory, with Manhasset keeping the “Indian” mascot name along with having an orange feather attached to the “M” in their logo and calling their newspaper “Indian Ink.”

More than 30 members of the Manhasset High School’s Class of 2021, including student government representatives and varsity athletic team captains, co-signed an email last year that accused the Board of Education of making a change to the mascot without informing the rest of the public.

“Rumors of a new image circulate throughout the school, but also clear changes have been made around the building,” the email said. “We urge the school board and administration to immediately stop proceeding with the backdoor termination of our Indian image and rather speak with the proud Manhasset community before any changes are made.”

The group of students claimed that the Manhasset students metaphorically wore the “Indian” name with pride and passion.

“Manhasset students represent this culture with the utmost respect,” the letter said. “Not once at any school or community event have we witnessed the Indian name be tarnished or demeaned in any way, rather, we watch as students and community members proudly boast the name, chanting ‘We are the Indians’ for anyone in the nearby vicinity to hear.”

In a statement responding to the student’s letter, the Manhasset Justice Initiative, an online organization comprised of current and former Manhasset school students, claimed there was a disconnect on how to appropriately honor native tribes and communities to the area.

“By claiming “We are the Indians,” we are claiming that we have the shared experience of the hardship the native communities faced and paying homage to a caricature that doesn’t accurately represent them,” the initiative said in a statement last year. “When the Native Americans said “do not forget us,” it wasn’t to keep the mascot but make sure that their cultures are depicted accurately and respectfully with educational components accompanying any decision the school makes.”

The memo from the state’s education department came on the heels of a court case involving Cambridge Central School District, which voted to retire its “Indians” team name, logo and mascot in June 2021 before reversing its decision a month later after new board of education members took office. 

Albany County’s Supreme Court ruled that public schools violate the Dignity Act when using Native American mascots.