Education Secretary Linda McMahon has said that protecting the Native American chief mascot of Massapequa High School in Long Island, New York, is a “top priority” for her department.
The school has been embroiled in a legal fight over the Massapequa Chiefs name, as has nearby Connetquot over its Thunderbirds name, since 2023 when the New York State Board of Regents banned the use of indigenous names, logos and imagery in public schools and threatened to withdraw state funding from any that did not comply with its ruling.
Four Long Island districts, including Massapequa, challenged the ban, only for a federal judge to side with the Empire State earlier this year.
The dispute echoes that over the renaming of the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians at a national level.
President Donald Trump has demanded those names be restored and has recently turned his attention to Massapequa, telling Fox News host Brian Kilmeade on Sunday: “I love Massapequa. I’ve heard that name for years. I have a lot of friends in Massapequa… We’ve got to get the name back to the Chiefs.”
Trump added that, in his opinion, it is “demeaning” to Native Americans to lose the Chiefs name, rather than insensitive to keep it.
The name was originally chosen to remember the Massapequa Tribe, who lived on Long Island until they were displaced by European colonists in the 17th century.
The president previously expressed his support over the matter on Truth Social in April, urging McMahon to intervene, and then posed with a Chiefs jersey in the Oval Office for an Instagram post.
McMahon also posed with a shirt during a subsequent visit to the school in May at which she threatened a lawsuit over the issue, claiming the Board of Regents’ decision amounted to a “violation” of Title VI of the federal Civil Rights Act and warning that New York’s Department of Education could lose its own funding or be investigated by the Justice Department if it does not back down.
In her latest statement on the matter, the secretary said: “It is a top priority of this administration to protect Massapequa, Connetquot, and all Native American groups’ right to celebrate and preserve their cultural heritage.”
McMahon also praised the two districts “in their continued fight against woke ideologues who are attempting to strip them of their beloved Chiefs and Thunderbirds mascots.”
Kerry Wachter, president of the Massapequa school board, told Newsmax after McMahon’s May visit she was “shocked” that the Trump administration had gotten involved in the issue but welcomed its support.
“You know, we did get some press in the beginning, New York Post and a couple other outlets, where we asked for President Trump to please get involved. And to our surprise, he actually did. So, yeah, we were very excited to hear him call out the Massapequa Chiefs.”
She added that carrying out the rebranding demanded and removing the Chiefs iconography would cost her district $1 million.
“It’s in our fields. It’s in the floors. It’s on the walls. It’s everywhere. And it’s not just at the schools, you know; it’s throughout our town. And we’re named Massapequa for the Massapequa Indians who were here before us.
“So, you know, it’s disingenuous for them to say that it’s, you know, an insult or that we’re doing something disparaging.”
Wachter has since called on Trump to issue an executive order to protect the mascot and the school has reportedly hired a new legal counsel, Oliver Roberts, to take the fight to New York.
