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Dear editor,

The process by which the Wausau School District is moving forward with proposed names and mascots for the new Wausau High School and Middle School is both murky and chaotic. It’s hard to sum it up. (“Wausau School District criticized over lack of community input – again” Wausau Pilot and Review, July 7, 2023 https://wausaupilotandreview.com/2023/07/07/wausau-school-district-criticized-over-lack-of-community-input-again/ ). 

I’d like to suggest one principle on which to proceed: The name and mascot should be genderless.

No, I am not being “woke.”

Why should girls play under names that evoke maleness? “Lumberjack” certainly does that, and “Lady Lumberjacks” only emphasizes that characteristic while also being absurd. “Warriors” is bit better but, like Lumberjack, it is clearly connected with an existing school and so creates a “winner” and “loser” across town. Warrior would not represent progress. We have to sideline old rivalries moving forward.

Which leads to a second principle, also based on neutrality: The name should be original, and thus represent a fresh start.

We need not look far for such a name for the high school: Wolfpack – which already unites both sides of town. But this leaves open the name of the middle school and for that I thought maybe the Bears …. but perhaps not! Eagles?

We could unite the past and the future in names that give a nod to past tradition but are not overly partisan. How about Big Red and Big Blue – high school or middle: Let’s have the two principals roll a dice and shake on it! And, in fact, we are told by Wausau School District Communications Director Diana White “the Board ‘tends to see red and blue from the two schools as the two colors to unify the schools.'” There you go.

Of course, all this might be moot because, we are told, rather mysteriously, that “Hilts told board members that the administration had engaged a local designer to brainstorm ideas on rebranding. Those ideas were not listed on the meeting agenda. Hilts said he didn’t ‘upload it’ because ‘images are really powerful, and we didn’t want to present things without any context.’” He knows, but he is not telling.

Well, if nothing else, I hope that new idea meets the two neutrality principles and the process is transparent and inclusive.

Keith Montgomery

Keith Montgomery is a Wausau resident; his two daughters attended Wausau East.