By NEIL ZOLOT
WAKEFIELD —— The School Committee will choose a new Wakefield Memorial High School logo at their next meeting July 18, based on options presented by art teacher and graphic designer Morgan Giannotti.
“It can’t go beyond the next meeting,” member Kevin Piskadlo said on Tuesday. “It’s been a long process.”
“I don’t want to kick this thing down the road too much,” member Tom Markham said.
“Getting into August is a can of worms,” Superintendent Doug Lyons agreed, referring to the need and logistics of having something in place when school starts in September.
Options were on display at the School Committee meeting Tuesday, June 27. Three had been seen before, a double circle reading “Wakefield Warriors” around a recognizable corporate logo style W, more or less the same design with a more stylized W in which one arm was a lightning bolt and the lightning bolt design backed by a shield. The first was the preference of 60% of 562 8-12 graders in a student poll on the last day of school, but a fourth idea was given to the School Committee June 27, the conventional W backed by shield, even though Giannotti was not present. “I’m worried we’ll come to the next meeting and there’ll be another logo,” member Kevin Fontanella joked about having another option. “We need to cap it.”
“We don’t need more options,” Markham added.
Fontanella and other members wondered how student opinion can and will be determined over the summer, especially in light of how many voted for one option in the poll. “I don’t see how we can get student feedback.” Markham said.
“I’m wary of running another student survey, especially over the summer,” member Eileen Colleran admitted.
“If only 150 vote is that more representative?” Fontanella asked. “If not we should vote Option 1,” the circle design.
Various social media and student e-mails will be used to gather opinion.
“You take the data you can get,” High School principal Amy McLeod said. “It’s still feedback.”
“Having the community have a say is more important than voting tonight,” Markham added.
The choices will be the circular logo around a W and the new W in a shield logo. “Keep all four,” chair Amy Leeman initially suggested before changing her mind to limit the choices to the student preferred option and the newest design.
“Get rid of options 2 and 3” member Peter Davis agreed, referring to the lightning bolt designs.
Although he said he would if pressed, Superintendent Doug Lyons was hesitant to voice an opinion on the choices. “If you’re looking for a recommendation, I’m a little conflicted about that,’ he said.
The process to have a new logo started three years ago when Native American imagery was deemed offensive. Given the progress or lack thereof since then Markham admitted, “It seems like we began this 100 years ago.”
Last September different options were given to the School Committee after an initial student survey. A choice similar to the Ohio State University logo in color and font was the most popular among 71.6% of students.
It was so similar, however, contact was made with OSU about copyright infringement, to which OSU responded it was.
Other options were the Wakefield Shield using a symbol of the town, its bandstand/gazebo, and a star and the Eagle/Star W, created by the Logo Committee member Elena Corradino, with the word warriors on a banner underneath a large W and an eagle. The Eagle/Star W was preferred by 21.2% of students, but others thought it branded the High School mascot as an eagle. Use of the bandstand/gazebo was preferred by only 7.2% of students.
By November, the Logo Committee was inactive, Markham advised the town not get into an unwinnable and potentially expensive legal fight with OSU and Lyons suggested turning to the local art teachers for ideas, which generated the latest images. Corradino prefers the Wakefield Warriors circle image.
In discussion among the members it also had traction, in part because it lends itself to variations, such as inserting arts or sports symbols in the W for various clubs or teams. “Teams and clubs should have some liberty,” Markham said. “We need to give clubs some leeway with the basic design.”
The July 18 meeting will start at 7 p.m. instead of the customary 7:30, as will other meetings during the summer.