Well, at least now we have confirmation that, when it comes to replacing the old Wakefield Warrior logo, what we knew all along was in fact true.

The logo that was plagiarized from Ohio State University, which the School Department tried to quietly roll out in 2019, is the one that they wanted all along to replace the original Wakefield Warrior logo and they never had any intention of considering any other option.

So, the entire three-year process leading up to this point was a sham and a total waste of everyone’s time and effort.

The staged “community forums,” the panel discussion featuring hand-picked Native American activists brought in to shame the community, all the work of the School Committee’s Policy Subcommittee to develop a new Logo Policy, all the work of the students and community representatives on the Logo Committee – it was all just a pretense and a mockery.

The goal from the beginning was to implement the Ohio State knockoff as the new Warrior logo. School officials wanted it and they knew it would also be the students’ overwhelming choice. Only a stern warning from Ohio State’s attorneys prevented it from becoming the new logo. 

We know all this because on Tuesday of this week, School Superintendent Doug Lyons informed the School Committee that, in the wake of the Ohio State cease-and-desist letter, he was assigning teachers in the high school Art Department to develop three new logo options, completely bypassing the process laid out in the Logo Policy that the School Committee passed last year. A policy that is now not worth the paper it’s written on. 

That Logo Policy sets forth an unambiguous process to be followed. 

“The selection of a mascot, logo, team name or nickname for any Wakefield Public School or related sports team, band, and other school-based activity shall be governed by the following process: 
“1)Whenever action is required concerning this policy, a committee shall be convened.” (The Logo Policy then describes the composition of said committee, which is to include students, parents, school staff members and community representatives.)
“The committee shall develop a list of up to three potential mascot(s), logo(s), team name(s) or nickname(s),” the Logo Policy continues. “All proposed school mascot, logo, team name or nickname selections and/or changes will be presented to the Superintendent for review. The Superintendent, in consultation with the committee, will make a recommendation(s) to the School Committee for final approval.”

Nowhere in the policy are “teachers from the high school Art Department” mentioned. 

But that’s where we are now. High school art teachers will create three logo options. Lyons will recommend one of them, and the School Committee will dutifully ratify Lyons’ choice. 

When informed by OSU that they couldn’t use the plagiarized logo that they wanted all along, local school officials decided to just throw the whole policy out the window and do as they please.  

And not one member of the School Committee raised any objection or questioned Lyons’ decision to trash their own Logo Policy and turn development of a new logo over to the high school Art Department. What a great teaching moment for Wakefield students. When the rules prevent you from doing what you want, just ignore the rules! 

Everything that took place with respect to the high school logo process over the last three years was a farce and a total waste of everyone’s time and energy. 

After this, why would anyone believe a single word these people say?
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[This column originally appeared in the December 1, 2022 Wakefield Daily Item.]