Athletic teams in the Amityville Union Free School District have a new mascot. One year after the district sued the New York State Board of Regents seeking federal permission to keep its long-standing Warriors name, Amityville has announced its teams will now be called the Hawks. “While I understand that changing our mascot brings strong emotions […]
Athletic teams in the Amityville Union Free School District have a new mascot.
One year after the district sued the New York State Board of Regents seeking federal permission to keep its long-standing Warriors name, Amityville has announced its teams will now be called the Hawks.
“While I understand that changing our mascot brings strong emotions for some, I am hopeful that we can move forward together, united in pride for our school community,” Superintendent Gina Talbert said in a statement.
The announcement comes months after the district dropped that lawsuit, and followed a process that leaders said involved soliciting the opinions of the community.
The other finalists were the Cardinals, Storm and Tide, the district said. The announcement was made by the high school’s broadcasting students in a video shared throughout the district.
Longtime boys basketball coach Jack Agostino said he felt the school made the best of the situation.
“Hey, we’re Warriors for life,” Agostino said. “But since we had to change the nickname, I think we picked the best of the four choices that were out there. So now we’re the Hawks.”
Agostino said the student-athletes will adapt to the new name and embrace it moving forward.
“We’ll need all new home and away uniforms and the gym will have to be completely redone,” he said. “But we’re still Amityville at heart and that’s all that really matters.”
The state Board of Regents issued guidance in the spring of 2023 banning the use of Native American mascots, team names and logos in public schools. Districts that fail to comply by June 30 could lose state aid or face the removal of school officers.
The district sued the Board of Regents later that year, calling the ban “illogical and a huge waste of taxpayer dollars,” Newsday previously reported. But in October 2024, members of the Board of Education voiced concern about rising legal fees and what they felt was the unlikelihood of the lawsuit’s success, according to Newsday reporting at the time.
Last year, the district approved 47 teacher and staff layoffs to fill a $3.6 million budget gap. The school board also saved an elementary school from closure after receiving a last-minute infusion of $2 million in state aid, Newsday previously reported.
The district remains in “moderate” fiscal stress, according to a January report by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
Amityville was one of 13 districts on Long Island impacted by the statewide mascot ban.
Students will now vote on an official Hawks logo, which school officials said will be shared with the community in the coming weeks.
The district’s new name came shortly after a federal judge ruled against the remaining four Long Island school districts that are challenging the state’s ban on Native American imagery in public schools.
The Wantagh and Wyandanch districts filed lawsuits seeking to keep their Warriors names, while the Connetquot and Massapequa districts sued to render the state’s ban “null.”
Officials at the Massapequa, Wyandanch and Wantagh school districts previously expressed disappointment in the decision, but said they were weighing their options.
