More than 14 months after the Wappingers Central School District board expressed a willingness to end its use of the moniker “Indians” for some of its sports teams, the board announced the next step in potentially doing so.
Board President John Lumia said the district plans to schedule presentations at a future board meeting at which the topic will be discussed, and said residents will have the opportunity to ask questions.
However, a date for the meeting has not been set, nor a timeline for a decision. The issue has not been on an agenda to allow for public comment since summer 2020, when the board first announced it was tabling the issue in the interest of focusing on COVID-19 safety measures.
Roy C. Ketcham High School and Wappingers Junior High both use the word and accompanying logos for their sports teams.
Lumia made the announcement at the board’s regular meeting Monday, and declined to clarify details of a timeline when reached Tuesday.
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He said the district has plans to invite local Wappinger descendants and the Stockbridge Munsee Community-Band of Mohicans to presents their thoughts on the issue.
He said the board will have the opportunity to ask questions. Members of the community will then have two weeks to submit questions to the district clerk, which will then be answered by the two groups, posted to Wappingers’ website and submitted to the board.
A push to do away with the school’s Native American nickname and logos began in July of last year, with some groups including native groups, calling them offensive.
Later that month, some…
