Board less sure about changing mascot
Staff writer
Marion school board members expressed reservations about changing the middle school mascot from “Wildcats” to “Warriors” at a meeting Tuesday night.
Superintendent Justin Wasmuth described Thursday’s meeting in Florence regarding the mascot as “a really good conversation.”
“A lot of concern down there as far as why we’re doing it,” he said.
In a straw poll conducted by middle school Principal Kelsey Metro, 36.3% of people voted “No” and 52.5% “Yes” to the question: “Do you feel like the mascot for USD 408 should be the same (Warriors) for all schools?”
Board member Justin Dameron said in discussion that some “yes” voters actually wanted both mascots to be Wildcats, not Warriors.
“I could read some of the survey responses, and most of the ‘Yes’’s were, ‘Yes, but why don’t we go to the Wildcats?’” he said.
Dameron then advocated for retaining the Wildcat name.
“I think what we’re actually going to do is hurt more people than we help by saying, ‘let’s get rid of the Wildcats,’” he said. “I think it makes the most sense to stick with the Wildcats.”
It was the first time anyone on the board had clearly sided with the current mascot.
However, Dameron then hedged his remarks, adding that “from a financial sense, I think it makes sense to switch.” Outside of the meeting, he said he was undecided on the issue.
Molly Guinn, taking part in her first meeting after being appointed to fill a board vacancy, also said she favored keeping the Wildcat name.
“The only communication I’ve had with community members is in support of keeping the Wildcats,” she said. “When you actually read the surveys… the people that had a good reason, that typed a lot, were in favor of the Wildcats.”
Board clerk Kristi Mercer found a record of a 1997 meeting in which the board voted 6-1 to name the new middle school “Marion Middle School” while retaining the Wildcat mascot.
Board president Nick Kraus said he was undecided on the issue.
He noted that a man who graduated in 1975 had listed himself as a “student” on the poll.
Kraus asked Metro whether there was a margin of error in the poll, to which Metro said she didn’t know. (There was not as it was not a scientific poll.)
“I thought it was pretty clear, but I made it,” she said.
Board member Jillian Edmundson said it had been middle school students who had raised the mascot issue in the first place.
The board did not take action, and Wasmuth said discussion would continue next month.
In other news, Jim and Judy Christiensen donated $2,000 to the district’s pool.
Recreation director Jimmy Shipman announced that Nate Funk and Michael Hagen had won a competitive pickleball league. Jess and Kim Whiteman won a casual league.
The leagues, in their first year, consisted of 64 participants.
“All of them said they would be back next year,” Shipman said.
High school Principal Donald Raymer gave a shoutout to students Eldon Smith and Sebastian Williams, who aided an elderly woman who fell outside the school last week.
Wasmuth’s and Guinn’s names were misspelled in some editions.