State education blasted the Trump Administration for its strong-armed stance against a Long Island school\u2019s rebranding of its Native American-inspired mascot \u2014 claiming the feds are making a \u201cmockery\u201d of civil rights laws.<\/p>\n
The US Department of Education last week cited the Connetquot Central School District for a civil rights violation<\/a> because the school board made a slight change to the name of a school mascot to comply with Empire State law, which bars schools from using Native American names.<\/p>\n Officials in Albany are standing their ground.<\/p>\n The Connetquot Central School District agreed to tweak its school mascot name to comply with New York State law. James Messerschmidt for NY Post<\/p>\n US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon called New York education officials \u201cwoke ideologues\u201d over its policies. Gent Shkullaku\/ZUMA \/ SplashNews.com<\/p>\n \u201cThe U.S. Department of Education continues to make a mockery of our nation\u2019s civil rights laws,\u201d the state education department said in a statement. \u201cUSDOE has offered no explanation as to whose civil rights were violated by changing a team name from Thunderbirds to T-birds. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd USDOE has still not explained why it maintains an open consent decree with a New York State school district to eliminate its Native American mascot,\u201d the statement said. \u201cNYSED remains committed to ending the use of harmful, outdated, and offensive depictions of Indigenous people and will not sacrifice the dignity of the students and families we serve for political expediency.\u201d<\/p>\n