R-III school board drops talk of official logo

District continues plan for imagery approval committee

John Rohlf, Staff Writer
Posted 9/19/22

The Warren County R-III School Board continued to sort through the question of official district imagery, mascot and colors during a policy discussion on Sept. 8.

The board held the first reading …

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R-III school board drops talk of official logo

District continues plan for imagery approval committee

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The Warren County R-III School Board continued to sort through the question of official district imagery, mascot and colors during a policy discussion on Sept. 8.

The board held the first reading of a proposed policy after previously discussing the topic during last month’s work session. The motivation for the policy stemmed from the need for the district to have a process in place to approve school group imagery and slogans, potentially including establishing an official logo. 

“One of the major concerns we have as a district is none of this is written down,” Superintendent Gregg Klinginsmith said. “There’s no preventative measures for anyone just changing any (imagery) they want to change. The board would have no authority. The superintendent wouldn’t have any authority. And so we wanted to have a process and a system in place that would have it written down.”

A policy committee met prior to last week’s meeting to form a recommendation for the board to consider for the first reading. 

After discussing the policy Sept. 8, board members chose to remove the portion of the policy establishing a school district logo. The process for approving new imagery and slogans stayed in the policy. It would create an approval committee made up of Superintendent Gregg Klinginsmith, Activities Director Kevin Fowler, and a member of either the district alumni association or a retired teacher, if approved by the board next month. 

Board member Rich Barton raised concern last week about all teams and organizations in the district needing to use one specific “W” logo that was recommended in the first reading of the policy. Barton believes if the district proceeded with using that W as the sole district logo, many students would not want to wear district apparel. 

Board member Rodger Tucker believes the district needs a font, a logo and colors. He noted that at other school districts, the school’s image is consistent through all sports teams. 

“If you look at any business where branding is consistent, that image is one image,” Tucker said. “I’m looking at it kind of as a business, as we’re branding, we need to be more consistent through our school, (but) not squash that creativity. … If you want to put a spear through a W, perfect, you can do that. But use this W.”

Board member Deanna Zwyers did not support the district picking a universal font for the district. She supported the committee approving logos, images and anything else someone wants to use relating to the school district. 

“Nothing else should even matter to us. They need to have that creativity to do what they want,” she said. 

The majority of the board supported the district not putting anything in the policy relating to branding. Board member Jeff Schneider said the whole intent of the initial discussion last month was to implement a process the district would need to approve school colors and imagery. 

“The brand of the school was not the original intention of this discussion,” Schneider said. “I like consistency but I don’t believe in a brand for the school district. I like having a process.” 

The board did not take final action on the policy. They will have a second reading and vote on the policy at a future board meeting.

Warren County School District, Logo

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