Circa 2014 superintendent Thomas J. Manko left his position. The Mahopac school board selected Forest City Regional School District superintendent John Kopicki as the successor, but Kopicki chose not to take the position. Anthony DiCarlo became the superintendent in 2018. He formerly served as a principal in the New Rochelle School District.
At a high school basketball game, Mahopac students and spectators were accused of verbally attacking basketball players from Mount Vernon, New York, with "racial taunts of an abhorrent nature." After eventually losing the game, Mahopac students then took to Twitter to continue the harassment, specifically focusing their attacks towards African-American students. Once word began to spread of the incident, students from other school districts began to support the statements made by Mount Vernon, citing similar issues with Mahopac students. Upon investigation, 3 Mahopac students were suspended. As a result of the incident, Mahopac's varsity basketball coach at the time, Kevin Downes, stepped down from his position.
2019 Racism Incident
Similar to the incident in 2014, Mahopac High School junior varsity lacrosse players were accused of racist behaviors during a game against the team from New Rochelle, New York. A parent of a New Rochelle athlete reported that Mahopac athletes referred to the New Rochelle athletes as " Mexicans" and that they refused to shake hands with African-American athletes. Mahopac's Superintendent, Anthony DiCarlo, immediately got in touch with New Rochelle administrators about the incident, responding to the accusations by stating, "We must be ever-vigilant when confronting behavior that runs counter to expected norms...Anyone found responsible will be held accountable in accordance with district policies and procedures." However, no reports of disciplinary actions came from the school district afterwards.
2019 Mascot Controversy
In October of 2019, students and alumni of Mahopac High School created a petition to retire the usage of Mahopac's "Indian" mascot. However, within days, a counter-petition was developed to express the significance of the mascot. The retirement of culturally insensitive mascots has been an on-going issue throughout athletics. More recently, the National Collegiate Athletic Association distributed a "self evaluation" to its member institutions for teams to examine the use of potentially offensive imagery with their mascot choice. This examination was done in accordance with NCAA policy that requires each member institution to maintain an "atmosphere of respect for and sensitivity to the dignity of every person." As a result, fourteen schools either removed all references to Native American culture or were deemed not to have references to Native American culture as part of their athletics programs. Similar proceedings have occurred across a multitude of sports at the professional level. Despite the actions of the NCAA, Native American individuals publicly expressing the insensitivity of the mascot since the 1940s, and other concerns from student and alumni within Mahopac, the school district chose to keep the Mahopac Indian mascot, stating that they "determined that the Mahopac Indian was an appropriate symbol of pride, as it honored the Algonquin Indians who inhabited Mahopac long before any of us." The issue was reopened in June of 2020, after students again petitioned the school district to not only retire the mascot but also address ongoing racial injustices prevalent in the schools. On June 18th, 2020, residents tried to express continued concerns pertaining to the insensitive mascot during a virtual school board meeting. However, despite submitting questions before the deadline, the topic was never brought up by both school officials or board members.
