Senate Bill S717

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S717

SPONSOR: RHOADS
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act exempting the Wantagh union free school district from any law,
rule, or regulation relating to the use of indigenous names, mascots,
and logos

 
PURPOSE:

Exempts the Wantagh union free school district from any law, rule, or
regulation relating to the use of indigenous names, mascots, and logos.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1. Notwithstanding any law, or rule, or regulation to the
contrary the Wantagh union free school district shall be exempt from any
law, rule, or regulation relating to the use of indigenous names,
mascots, and logos.

 
              

JUSTIFICATION:

On July 4, 1657, Chief Wantagh, Sachem of the Meroke tribe and Grand
Sachem of the larger Montaukett tribe signed a compact with local sett-
lers resolving 14 years of disputes over the settlement of lands a
portion of which presently constitute the Long Island community that
bears his name.

Wantagh was originally settled as Jerusalem in 1644, with the southern
portion of the community becoming Ridgewood in 1867 when the Long Island
Railroad built a station in the community. In 1891, however, when the
United States Postal Service would not grant Ridgewood a post office due
to a conflict in name with Ridgewood, Queens, Thomas Seaman, a descen-
dent of the original Seaman and Jackson families that settled the area
of present-day Wantagh and of John Seaman who himself was a signatory on
the 1657 land compact executed by Chief Wantagh, led the effort to
rename the community in honor of the former Grand Sachem who helped to
bring peace to the area nearly 250 years before. This history was recog-
nized by historical markers from the Town of Hempstead and the State
Education Department.

Since the creation of Wantagh High School in 1956, Wantagh has used the
name "Wantagh Warriors" with the logo of the profile of an Indian head
in full headdress as a tribute to the historic origins of the community
it serves and to the Grand Sachem who made that possible.  For almost 70
years, these emblems of good faith and community have united the people
of Wantagh and served as a treasured reminder of their storied past.

That legacy has been embraced by the Wantagh School District which in
1966 added local community history and the role of Chief Wantagh to the
seventh-grade curriculum so students could understand the origins of
both the town as well as appreciate the meaning of the Warriors name.

The choice of the Wantagh Warriors was not an attempt to be trite,
catchy or offensive. It was chosen to honor their past not as conquerors
or as pilgrims but as a proud community celebrating the history upon
which they founded their town. It was chosen to pay tribute to Chief

Wantagh himself, the man who made possible the very community that
honors him today.

The State Education Department's state-wide mandate and universal ban on
the use of indigenous names, logos and mascots fails to account for
situations like Wantagh's where the origins, history and circumstances
of their use celebrate rather than denigrate the legacy of Long Island's
indigenous peoples. Certainly, as it pertains to Wantagh, the applica-
tion of this mandate will erase rather than celebrate that history.

The Wantagh School District has voluntarily retired its mascot but wish-
es to retain and rebrand the Warriors name. That request has, without
explanation, been denied by the SED, despite the continued use of the
Warriors name by other school districts throughout the State. This
legislation would allow Wantagh to continue to embrace the Warriors for
what that word means: survivors, protectors, a people united to do what
must be done to survive and allow Wantagh's schools to continue to
provide our children with the most important of all education, the abil-
ity to investigate the past and find the same strength of character to
fight for their future.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.