By 2025 the new combined Wausau High School and Wausau Junior High School will have new colors – and they’ll mix a bit of each from the old schools.
The Wausau School Board Monday approved including red and blue for the new color scheme for when the two existing high schools, West and East, are combined under the district’s current restructuring plan.
The controversial restructuring plan was approved earlier this year in response to declining enrollments, making many schools far too big for the number of students attending them. And, with more difficulties in finding teachers and other staff, the district says the restructuring will allow teachers to operate more efficiently and not be stretched across so many buildings.
Selecting the colors was one of the first steps. Board members on Monday said they didn’t know how much changing colors and mascots for the new buildings were going to cost, or where the money was going to come from. And how those colors will be configured has yet to be decided – many board members discussed the possibility of adding a white accent to the color scheme.
The board also decided Monday to form a focus group comprised of staff and community members to look into timelines, expenses and other issues with the color and mascot change.
One thing board members were pretty sure they could rule out: Neither Lumberjacks nor Warriors will be used, since it wouldn’t be fair to either West or East if either were chosen. Board Member Cory Sillars said amongst an impromptu parent group he formed, there was a lot of support for Warjacks, a mascot that is used on some East/West combined teams.
