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Nickname Timeline of Events

On Thursday, November 17, 2022, every school district across New York State received a memo from the New York State Education Department and the Senior Deputy Commissioner of Education. This memo is specific to school districts' use of Native American logos, mascots, imagery and names. The memo explicitly directs districts to commit to a process for replacing their Native American team name, logo, mascots and/or imagery by the end of the 2022-23 school year with all changes being made by June 2025. The memo also indicated that there would be forthcoming Regulations which will “clarify the school districts’ obligations.”

Since that time, we have taken a number of steps to respond to the Commissioner’s memo. This page is meant to provide updates to the community on our response to the memo and Regulations, as well as other important resources for understanding the required nickname change for Westhill. 

Check back regularly for updates to our process. Here is a timeline of events:
 

Actions to be taken in the coming months:
  1. We will begin a series of surveys with the school community (staff, students, families, community members and alumni) in September 2023. These surveys will be used to guide our work and our final determination for a school nickname. We do not have to change our current logo, but we can if that is the desired direction by stakeholders.
     
  2. We will create a Stakeholder Committee to review and discuss all survey results in order to guide our course of action.
Westhill School logo
Stephen R. Dunham, Superintendent
400 Walberta Road
Syracuse, NY 13219
Phone: (315) 426 - 3000