Brentwood School District is currently on the hunt for a new mascot. It must continue to uphold Brentwood School District’s ideals of excellence in education, athletics, character, and creativity. As an added challenge, it must maintain the traditional green and white colors associated with the district.
The New York State Board of Regents (BOR) adopted part 123 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education in May 2023, which prohibited the use of indigenous-related terms in school team names, mascots, or logos out of respect for real Native Americans. According to Brentwood High School’s Acting Principal, Dr. Dashana Dulin, when the NYS Board of Regents adopted this new regulation, it sent out a memo mandating that all districts currently using Native American names or logos remove them by the established deadline (the start of the 2025-2026 school year). As a result, Brentwood’s Indian mascot and imagery will have to be retired.
The regulation did include a provision that schools could secure permission from a local tribe to continue to use their indigenous images. However, Brentwood High School failed to receive that permission from the Shinnecock tribe.
Once the mascot officially retires, the district will need to spend a lot of time and money to replace its image with a new one. That means that a decision will need to be reached sooner rather than later.
“Anywhere that you see the logo, on floors, tablecloths, podiums, merchandise, gear, paraphernalia, all of that would need to be replaced,” Dulin said. “If we wait until the deadline (June 2025) to make the decision, then all of that would have to be replaced within a short amount of time. If we make that decision at the end of June 2025, then in September we would have to be ready to open with all the new merchandise.”
As the 2023-2024 school year began, many students noticed a new animal logo on the agenda books distributed to students: a green owl. Brentwood community members became confused and eager to find out if the owls were the future mascot of Brentwood High School.
However, Dr. Dulin clarified that the owl is not the official new mascot. Rather, the owl imagery arose from a competition that took place at Brentwood High School last year.
“The owl represents a contest that took place in art classes,” Dulin said. “The students who could look at the artwork submitted by their peers picked the mascot. The owls may still be in the running, but that is not what was selected or approved by the Brentwood Board of Education (BOE).”
Last year, the principals’ committee agreed to host a competition within Brentwood School District’s 18 school buildings so that students would have the opportunity to make nominations for a new mascot and logo. Students could work individually or as a team to decide which mascot and logo to nominate.
In conjunction with the principal’s committee’s competition, Dr. Dulin stated that the BOE is looking to create a committee with students, staff, and some community members this year, so that everyone’s voice is heard prior to reaching a decision. In this way, ideas could be considered from every member of the community.
Despite the BOR mandate, some community members are hesitant to retire the Indian mascot.
“I have grown up here, and this mascot has been here my whole life,” said Maria Lemus, a Brentwood resident of 42 years. “It inspires me to push as hard as they [Native Americans] did, and a new mascot would not do that for me.”
Lemus is a school bus driver and raised her 3 children and grandchildren in Brentwood. Two of her kids, Carlos and Andres Alvarenga, played soccer for the varsity team and one of her grandkids, Adriana Quintanilla, is on the Junior Varsity Cheerleading team.
“A lot of us have kids who have brought titles for championships and won leagues with the name ‘Brentwood Indians’ on their backs.”
“This logo is a staple, Brentwood’s plaque,” Lemus said. “They could change it, but it will not be the same.”
Lemus added that the younger generations of Brentwood would be able to adapt to it easier, but the older generations would not.
“For the older generations, we will be remembered as that [Brentwood Indians],” Lemus said. “How could we be called a new name if we have not lived with that? It would be something new for me, something I would not like.”
Karla Chica, another Brentwood bus driver and resident of 27 years, agreed with Lemus’ sentiments.
“I do not think this will benefit us,” Chica said. “We are used to being called the ‘Brentwood Indians;’ everyone knows that is who we are.”
Chica is a mother of 3 and a grandmother of 1, all of whom grew up in the Brentwood community. She is also this reporter’s mother. Her favorite part about Brentwood is raising her kids in a loving and united community.
“I have grown used to [the Indian mascot],” Chica said. “You see that logo everywhere you go. You go to your child’s concert; you go to the school; you just grow used to it.”
She also stated that she does not see the mascot as an offense to the Native American community.
“We are a good community, and whatever we do with the Indians on our backs is done with good spirit and heart.”
Christopher Avila, a senior at Brentwood High School, feels that removing the mascot spreads the wrong message. Avila is a section leader of the clarinets for the Green Machine, the high school’s award-winning marching band.
“We represent the mascot despite what many people think,” Avila said. “To throw it all way seems very counter intuitive…”
Dr. Dulin, however, believes that this change can only benefit the Brentwood community.
“There has been a huge push in the last couple of years to bring equity here and to create a more inclusive environment,” Dulin said. “I do feel that Brentwood taking a stand and saying we welcome everyone will be huge.”
Other community members concur with Dr. Dulin. They celebrated the diversity in Brentwood but addressed the need for further progress.
“Brentwood is truly diverse, so I feel like they try to be inclusive all the time,” said Maritza Rivas, a Brentwood high school alumni and resident of 20 years. “I do, however, think that this new change will be good for Brentwood.”
Jacqueline Rivas, Maritza’s sister, is a Brentwood High school alumni and resident of 27 years She says that the school district could have done much more to represent the Native American community.
“We all come from different countries: El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras…We have the African Americans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans to name a few,” Rivas said. “I feel like the Native Americans are not represented enough in that sense.”
When asked if she thinks this change will benefit us, Maritza Rivas was on the fence.
“…When you think of the mascot you automatically think of Brentwood,” Martiza Rivas said. On the other hand, she also said, “I know a lot of native Americans are saying that they don’t like the fact that they are used as a logo.”
She added that this new step of changing the mascot will help us represent the community better.
Giselle Rivas, Maritza and Jacqueline’s younger sister, and recent Class of 2023 graduate, added that using a Native American as a logo did not show who we truly are.
“We do not really have that many Native Americans living in Brentwood, or at least not a lot going to the high school, so there not really being represented by the high school,” Giselle Rivas said.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, only 0.6% of American Indians were living in Brentwood as of July 2022. In contrast with this, there are more African American, Hispanic, and Latino residents in Brentwood.
Giselle Rivas noted that another issue with continuing use of the current mascot is that the depiction of Native Americans is inaccurate.
“We are also using a very stereotypical caricature of native Americans, so it is also a very harmful stereotype. As a community, we should not be represented by a harmful stereotype.”
When talking about the mascot, she references history to prove why this next step is needed for Brentwood.
“[The mascot] is a stereotype that history has not been kind to for many years. Since America became America, we have not been the kindest to them, so I think this new change will be a great step towards being kinder.”
Brentwood High School Guidance Counselor, Anthony Jimenez, echoed these beliefs. Jimenez has been an employee in Brentwood School District for 28 years.
“I understand the political sensitivity about it,” Jimenez said. “I also understand that the Native American Indians feel as if they have given up a lot just for their name to become a school logo, and that they want to be represented. They have lost land, opportunities, etc., and I do understand the movement.”
He mentions how Brentwood has been a safe space for new American residents.
“People have always been welcomed, and with the community people have been able to learn and educate themselves,” Jimenez said. “And whenever people move on from Brentwood, they recognize this as their home, and we will continue to be that home base. The home base that is filled with love and support.”
He adds that being a Brentwood Indian is special for all community members, but that change is inevitable and necessary for the growth of a community.
Do you think the Brentwood Indian mascot should be changed to promote inclusivity?
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“I hope that we will be able to make a good choice moving forward, one that we can all be proud of,” Jimenez said.
The most prominent issue with how a mascot change will be received might be the generational difference between community members.
In spite of the generational differences between community members, there is one thing on which everyone can agree.
“We will just have a different logo,” Chica said, “but we will still be the same people.”
