WEST HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — West Hartford has become the latest Connecticut town to scrap Native American nicknames for its high school sports teams.
The Board of Education voted after two hours of debate Tuesday night to stop using Warriors as the nickname at Hall High School and Chieftains at cross-town rival Conard High School.
The town changed the schools Native American logos in 2015, after a petition from students. At the time, the board voted to keep the nicknames.
Last year, state lawmakers passed legislation that would prevent towns whose schools use Native American names and images from receiving any allotment of revenue from the Mashantucket Pequot/Mohegan Fund. That's an account that’s funded with the state’s 25% share of slot machine revenues generated at the two casinos owned and operated by the federally recognized Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes.
West Hartford is scheduled to received grants of just under $28,000 from the fund in both the 2022 and 2023 fiscal years.
West Hartford's school board plans to choose new nicknames by June.
