Philip Marcelo.

New York’s governor has formally apologized for the “atrocities” she says were committed at an upstate boarding school where Native American youths were forcibly separated from their families and forced to assimilate into American society. Gov. Kathy Hochul also said on her Tuesday visit to Seneca Nation land that her budget will include funding to create new education materials about local indigenous communities and their contributions. Seneca President J. Conrad Seneca, who invited the Democrat, said the apology was overdue. The Thomas Indian School in western New York operated from 1875 to 1957 and was among hundreds of such boarding schools across the U.S.