McMahon demands state Education Department lift ban on Native American imagery in public schools

Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said on Friday in a visit to Massapequa that the state Board of Regents’ ban on Native American imagery in public schools violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

McMahon said she is giving the state education department 10 days to comply or risk being referred to the U.S. Department of Justice for enforcement proceedings and potentially losing federal funding.

“Schools operate best and education operates best when it’s closer to the child,” she said while standing next to Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and other local officials in Massapequa High School’s gymnasium.

McMahon’s trip to Long Island comes as the Massapequa School District has fought for months against the state’s regulation to eliminate Native American mascots, names and logos, which was approved in April of 2023.

Linda McMahon, the head of the U.S. Department of Education, said the investigation into the state found it violated the Civil Rights Act. Photo by Casey Fahrer

Schools were originally tasked with establishing a new mascot by the end of the 2022-23 school year, but this was later changed to June 2025.

The Massapequa School District, along with the Wantagh, Connetquot, and Wyandanch school districts, filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s policy. The lawsuit was dismissed in federal court in March but has been appealed by Massapequa.

The Education Department announced in April that it was investigating whether the state’s threat to withhold funding if the Massapequa School District did not drop its Native American mascot constitutes discrimination on the basis of race and national origin.

McMahon said on Friday that the investigation found that the state violated the Civil Rights Act.

The U.S. Department of Education website said state Education Department must rescind the part of the educational regulation prohibiting the use of Indigenous names, mascots, and logos by New York public schools, issue a memorandum to all local education agencies informing them that they may adopt a name, mascot, and logo consistent with the requirements of Title VI; and issue letters of apology to Indigenous tribes, acknowledging that the board violated Title VI by discriminating against Native Americans.

McMahon called the U.S. Department’s request in the resolution “reasonable.”

The state Department of Education called the federal action a “sham” and “political theater.”

Gordon Tepper, the Long Island press secretary for Gov. Kathy Hochul, said that although the governor’s administration does not oversee the state Department of Education, she is committed to the continued success of public schools.

“While Secretary McMahon focuses on WWE-style distractions, Gov. Hochul is focused on what matters: fully funding Long Island’s public schools and making sure every kid gets a high-quality education,” he said.

Tepper’s comment was in apparent reference to McMahon helping found and run World Wrestling Entertainment.

Blakeman expressed support for McMahon’s actions.

“We’re not going to tolerate the state government telling us what mascots we can use or not,” Blakeman said on Friday.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman preached for local control in school districts picking their mascots, names and logos. Photo by Casey Fahrer

Blakeman, McMahon, and Donald Trump were gifted shirts from the school district featuring an illustration of a chief.

The president had publicly supported the Massapequa School District on social media in the past. On Friday, McMahon said that Trump personally asked her to investigate the matter.

“I agree with the people in Massapequa, Long Island, who are fighting furiously to keep the Massapequa Chiefs logo on their teams and school,” Trump said in April. “The School Board, and virtually everyone in the area, are demanding the name be kept. It has become the school’s identity.”

The state Department of Education had called its policy legally sound in a May 12 letter to the U.S. Department of Education.

One week prior, the Massapequa School District’s Board of Education sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education requesting many of the things that McMahon had announced on Friday at the school.

On Friday, Board President Kerry Wachter said, “Being a Chief isn’t a slogan, it’s a standard.”

The Native American Guardians Association previously entered a binding agreement with the Massapequa School District in support of its fight to keep its mascot. The group’s vice president, Frank Black Cloud, spoke at the school on Friday in support of the U.S. Department of Education’s investigation.

“I’d like to consider this MAGA meets NAGA,” he said. “We urge policymakers to reconsider these sweeping mandates and to foster appreciation, not annihilation of our shared cultural legacy.”

Efforts to reach the state Department of Education for comment were unavailing.

The vice president of NAGA, Frank Black Cloud, showed support for the Massapequa School District. Photo by Casey Fahrer