Greenwood, Loyal school boards create branding committee for consolidation

One concept that has been brought up time and time again in the consolidation talks between Greenwood and Loyal is identity. Neither school district wants to lose its identity — each having its own unique, rich history that it brings to the table — but each also must be willing to adapt in order to build a shared future. A newly created ad hoc committee will be important in establishing the consolidated district as its own unique entity and portraying that image to the community.

Last Wednesday, the Greenwood and Loyal school boards approved the creation of a branding committee with residents from both districts. The committee will be tasked with coming up with ideas for things like the logo, mascot, colors, and name of the consolidated district. Of those pieces, the name is the most important and will need to be decided before December of next year, as that is when both boards will need to pass an order to consolidate that includes the name.

At the joint meeting, district administrators informed the board that since putting out a public call for committee members, seven Greenwood residents and four Loyal residents had expressed interest in joining the branding committee. Loyal board members said they would like to see equal representation on the committee, but also didn’t want to turn anybody away who had already expressed interest.

Loyal board member Kirk Haslow made a motion to accept Greenwood’s seven committee members and Loyal’s four, and to recruit three more for Loyal. That was motion was unanimously approved. The Greenwood board made and unanimously approved the same motion.

GreenwoodboardmemberElizaRuzic asked if any board members would be on the branding committee.

“I would assume yes; it just can’t be a quorum,” said Greenwood District Administrator Joe Green.

Loyal board president Derek Weyer said he was not opposed to that, but reminded members that the purpose of the committees was to help delegate. Consolidation is such a big process with so many details that the boards can’t do it all themselves.

“I will say the committees are supposed to be relief from the boards,” said Weyer. “We can certainly put a board memberon,butitwilladdmoreworkload.”

The boards didn’t decide how many, if any, board members would join the committee.

Green also pointed out that this committee was about getting the discussion going and getting ideas flowing, rather than decision-making.

“These are not the 11 [or 14] people that get to pick the name, colors, and mascot. But they help pick the process to pick the name, colors, and mascot,” he said.

By all indications, community members are keenly interested in being involved in this conversation. Last Thursday morning, Loyal School District Administrator Chris Lindner put out a Remind notification asking for more committee members, and by the afternoon he issued another notification saying the district had received more than enough applicants. With the 14 committee slots filled, the committee will likely start meeting soon.

The Loyal and Greenwood boards plan to go over committee expectations at their meeting Oct. 15, which will provide more guidance as to what exactly they want from the branding committee and other ad hoc committees that will be formed. The boards are looking at possibly creating a technology and business partnerships committee, as well as a scheduling and learning opportunities committee.