Killingly must forfeit $94K for ‘Redmen’ mascot
The town of Killingly will forfeit $94,184 in state funding this year due to its high school’s continued use of the “Redmen” and “Red Gals” mascots, Connecticut’s Office of Policy Management announced Thursday.
Killingly was one of three towns found out of compliance with a 2021 state law that restricts the use of Native American mascots in Connecticut schools. Windsor and Canton, both of whose high schools use a “Warriors” mascot, are also out of compliance, according to a state review, but do not receive any money from the Mashantucket Pequot/Mohegan Fund and, therefore, do not stand to face any financial penalty.
Other towns, such as Derby, whose schools use the nickname “Red Raiders,” were granted exemptions after receiving consent from recognized Native tribes.
Earlier this year, every Connecticut town was required to submit a form to OPM documenting the mascots for each of its schools. While most districts certified that they did not use any offending mascots (or intended to phase them out imminently), Killingly, Windsor and Canton indicated that they would retain a name and/or imagery associated with indigenous peoples, without written consent from Native groups.
Once a fixture of Connecticut high school sports, Native American nicknames and logos have become less common over recent years, as schools have adopted new monikers in response to increasingly fervent objections from Native Americans locally and nationally. The trend accelerated after the passage of the new law in June 2021, with North Haven, Watertown, Montville and West Hartford among the towns to replace their mascots in the time since.
Some towns, however, have resisted change.
In Killingly, the Board of Education voted in 2019 to remove its nickname and mascot, only to reverse course months later following political backlash.
In Windsor, where the “Warriors” nickname is accompanied by an arrowhead logo, Superintendent Terrell Hill told the state earlier this year that he had “not been directed by the Windsor Board of Education to engage the community in discussions regarding the changing of the WHS Warriors name.”
“Until I have been instructed to do so, the name, Windsor High School Warriors, will remain,” he wrote.
In Canton, the Board of Education voted last year to keep its “Warriors” nickname while removing all Native-related imagery — a decision mirroring that of several other school districts
statewide.
Asked why Canton was deemed out of compliance with state law even while other “Warriors” schools, such as Wilton, Valley Regional and Wamogo Regional, were not, an OPM spokesperson said the decision was based on Canton’s certification form, on which officials checked a box indicating the school “has chosen to retain its name, symbol or image that depicts, refers to, or is associated with” Native people or customs.
In a statement, OPM secretary Jeffrey Beckham said the agency had “carefully reviewed each submission” in reaching its decisions.
“Three schools, Canton High School, Killingly High School, and Windsor High School all certified that they will continue using Native American names,
images, or symbols, and as a result those schools are ineligible to receive grants provided by the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan Fund,” Beckham said.
Officials from Killingly, Windsor and Canton did immediately not respond to requests for comment.
By ruling only three schools out of compliance with the new state law, OPM chose leniency for several others who fall in a gray area. For example, Nonnewaug High, which serves students from Woodbury and Bethlehem, continues to use the nickname “Chiefs,” which officials there claim does not refer to Native Americans.
Derby, whose middle and high schools both use the nickname “Red Raiders” along with several logos containing Native American imagery, was granted an exemption based on a letter from Schaghticoke Tribal Nation, a state-recognized tribe with an office in the town. The letter did not mention Derby by name but attested that the nation approves of Native American-inspired mascots in certain contexts, “as a public means of sustaining Native American culture and history of Connecticut’s first citizens.”
Similarly, the state determined that New Milford may keep the name of Schaghticoke Middle School thanks to a letter from the tribe, while Montville may maintain the name of Mohegan Elementary School thanks to a letter from Mohegan chairman James Gessner Jr. explicitly granting permission.
Native American mascots have faced increasing backlash in recent years, with groups such as the National Congress of American Indians arguing that they are offensive and degrading. In Connecticut, former Mohegan Chief Lynn Malerba called the mascots “demeaning” and recommended that they be discontinued, while Mashantucket Pequot leaders have voiced similar sentiments.
In response to these concerns, lawmakers led by state Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, inserted a provision in the 2021 state budget implementer stripping funds from the Mashantucket Pequot/ Mohegan Fund from any town that continued to use Native mascots past July 1, 2022. At the time, Osten argued that towns choosing to disrespect Native tribes should not receive money from those tribes.
Allocations from the $51 million Mashantucket Pequot/Mohegan Fund are determined based on the value of state-owned property, the presence of private colleges and hospitals, per-capita income and other factors. As a result, some towns and cities receive seven-figure pay-outs from the fund each year while others, including Windsor and Canton, do not receive anything.