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.
