[2] The school, which opened in 1956,[3] is named after John Jay, a Founding Father of the United States, and first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who lived nearby.

However, many students also protested the media's portrayal of the situation, believing that the school had acted correctly and that the girls deserved to be punished for their insubordination, for they had previously agreed not to say the word.

In October 1989, after six months of discussion, the John Jay Campus Congress, a coalition of students, parents, and faculty, voted to abandon the Chief Katonah mascot, claiming that the imagery, which included feathers, tomahawks, headdresses, and loin-cloth clad natives spearing buffalo, perpetuated negative stereotypes about Native Americans and created false associations of violence and savagery that were then applied as generalizations onto indigenous people as a group.

[5] The decision was ultimately rejected, as the community was particularly swayed by a Cherokee faculty member who argued that the mascot was a means to honor the chief.

In December 2017, John Jay High School students conducted a poll to gauge opinions on the mascot's potential removal.

[14] Finally, student activists have cited that the use of an “Indian” as a mascot mirrors a larger-scale issue at hand: the district's lack of consciousness related to Native American history.

[12] On October 17, 2019, the Board of Education agreed that the mascot was dated and not politically correct, and requested the superintendent, Andrew Selesnick, make a change on the grounds of adherence to fundamental school principles of inclusion.

[15][16][17] In response, Selesnick suggested that the mascot was no longer appropriate and that additional discussion regarding the topic should be encouraged, citing the need for the school to uphold its adherence to the Dignity for All Students Act.

[22] John Jay High School's ice hockey team is a Division II program competing within Section 1 of the NYSPHAA.

The team hosts home games off campus at the Brewster Ice Arena located in Putnam County, New York.

Since that time, they have earned multiple state titles starting with a return in 2008 to defeat the reigning champions Beacon High School.

The group, ranging from 15 to 35 students and accompanied by a rhythm section, placed 2nd in the nation in the 2013 competition by only one point out of all Division 1 schools.

In the 2013–2014 school year, JJHS put on Tom Stoppard's The Real Inspector Hound and Eugene Ionesco's The Bald Soprano in the Fall[36] and Jonathan Larson's Rent in the Spring.

[37] The Wind Ensemble traveled to Williamsburg, VA, to compete at Heritage Festivals on April 23–26, 2009, where it won a total of four awards.