Defiant Massapequa Residents Vow to Keep ‘Chiefs’
By Hank Russell
“Once a Chief, Always a Chief” — that was the common theme at the June 7 “Save the Chiefs” Festival Fundraiser that was held at Massapequa High School. The event featured vendors, food trucks, live music and a bouncy house. Part of the vendors’ sales proceeds went to the Save The Chiefs Foundation, which will use the funds to support legal efforts to preserve the Chief name and emblem, which the group says represent generations of tradition and community pride.
As previously reported by Long Island Life & Politics, the Education Department launched an investigation into the New York State Board of Regents for a reported violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The OCR assessed whether New York’s threat to withhold funding if the Massapequa School District does not eliminate its Native American mascot constitutes discrimination on the basis of race and national origin. The school’s decision has garnered support from elected officials, including President Donald Trump.
It was also reported that the state’s Board of Regents banned the use of Native American nicknames and mascots in 2023 and ordered the schools to change their names or else they would not receive school funding from the state, citing CBS New York.
“When you talk to people [about the fight to keep the name and logo], they’re all in,” Janice Talento, Chair of Save The Chiefs Foundation, told LILP. “They want it.”According to School Board President Kerry Wachter, it would cost $1 million to change the school’s moniker and logo — none of which would be covered by the state. “We would have to divert funds [from elsewhere] because we have a finite budget,” she told LILP.
“It’s not an easy fix like changing [logos on] shirts,” Board Vice President Jeanine Caramore added. “It’s ripping up floors, ripping up our building.”
During the early afternoon, supporters stood in the parking lot in the drizzling rain, listening to school board members, local elected officials and local residents speak about the importance of keeping the Chiefs name and logo.“Together, we stand up for what we believe in,” said Massapequa School District President Kerry Wachter. “It’s not just a slogan; it’s who we are. It’s our truth, it’s our identity, it’s our honesty. It’s everything that we hold true and we want to protect it.”
Class President Bill Schiurba, a senior, called the logo “a symbol of our town” and “a badge of honor.”
“Many people wake up to the day that they can represent this amazing town, whether that’s on the field, in the classroom or on the stage,” Schiurba said.
Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino, who played ice hockey and football with Massapequa, called the town “a community of respect. We teach [our children] respect, we teach them to strive for success, in schools and our community.”
LILP asked Wachter and Saladino how they respond to accusations that the Chiefs name and symbol are offensive to the Native American community. Wachter pointed out that the Native American Guardians Association has backed the school on this issue. “They find it offensive that New York State wants to eliminate them,” Wachter replied. “They feel it’s an erasure of their culture and their honorable imagery.”
New York State Senator Alexis Weik (R-Sayville) said she met with eight other school districts “with similar problems” in August 2023. “We reached out to the Native American representatives and we asked them, ‘What can we do to embrace your culture even more?’” Weik recalled. “Our school districts offered to include them into our curriculum and they decided to pull out and erase their identity from the community and that’s just the wrong direction, so we’re going to keep fighting, whether they like it or not.”
Saladino blasted the state for “hypocrisy,” stating that New York allows the Department of Motor Vehicles to use Native American imagery in the agency’s logo. He also said the state’s Education Department is using “subterfuge” to avoid having to deal with other issues such as school safety and the state’s abysmal graduation rate.
“[We’re] in a state where high school students are not graduating on time at an alarming rate,” he said.
Saladino also accused the state of “unethical” practices, such as withholding state aid from the school if they do not change the name and symbol. “It’s certainly unethical to hold back the taxpayers’ money,” he said. “People pay taxes to the state and they deserve this back.”
Wachter added that the community should listen to “divergent ideas”; however, “we should be able to use whatever imagery we wish without state intervention.”