By HOLLY GASKILL
District rebranding discussions have Northern Wells Community Schools personnel asking: “What’s in a name?”
During a work session Tuesday night, Doug Stitt of Sensible Creative proposed the district consider the consistency in its names and logos. This session was the beginning of conversations regarding possible marketing and branding efforts for the district.
In his presentation, Stitt proposed the district use the name Norwell Community Schools. With this, he suggested branding materials for each school lead with their district name first and location name second. He said observed “Norwell” is used as a default for the district already, and for marketing the full NWCS district name is bulky and indistinct.
This proposition was met with mixed reviews by those in attendance.
Nicole Nussbaum disagreed with Stitt’s claim that most people already refer to the district as Norwell. She stated she didn’t see the issue in the current district name, and worried how the change would stand out among districts or become associated with athletics.
“I have an Ossian Elementary Student, and am well aware that they are going to get to Norwell,” she said. “I’m also really OK with them being at Ossian.”
In contrast, Norwell Middle School Principal Andrew Enderle emphasized the value of moving forward with tools that emphasize the schools’ unity. Enderle noted the confusion in previous years differentiating between Lancaster Central Elementary in Bluffton and the former Lancaster Elementary in Huntington.
Wells County Commissioner Jeff Stringer, on the other hand, questioned why a rebranding was necessary if it was so similar to how people already referred to the district.
Alongside the discussion of a district name, Stitt presented options for graphic and logo changes. Stitt identified inconsistency in logo use across the district, noting at least 12 different logos for the schools.
With the prevalence of families shopping around for schools, Stitt stated this led to confusion and lack of cohesion. He recommended the district rally behind a new version of their “N” logo and the knight mascot.
During the conversation, Superintendent Mike Springer said he wasn’t campaigning in any direction, but that it was important to him to incorporate legacy, growth, and togetherness within the district’s branding. With whatever additions are incorporated for this next chapter, Springer said he wanted to honor the history as well.
“I think it’s really important for kids to know that people came before them, and to know that there were things that happened before you walk through these doors,” Springer said. “We’ve talked about each building having a ‘hall of fame’ type thing — like the high school having iterations of the knight, or for Ossian to show the history of the school.”
holly@news-banner.com
