JACKSONVILLE — With the new Jacksonville-North Pulaski School District comes a new mascot.
The Jacksonville-North Pulaski School Board has voted 5-2 to make the Titans the mascot for the new district, which will become separate from the Pulaski County Special School District on July 1.
The switch to a new logo means that Jacksonville High School, which will be used as the new district’s high school this upcoming school year, is abandoning its Red Devils logo, and North Pulaski High School will no longer be the Falcons.
“As the district was created, the sense of a fresh start was part of that [proposal for a new mascot],” said Daniel Gray, president of the school board. “The main reason was North Pulaski High School and Jacksonville High School were going to be combined. It was apparent that we couldn’t sustain two high schools.”
This past winter, a committee of 10 people — three students from Jacksonville High School, three students from North Pulaski High School, the principal from each high school and an alumni of each school — was appointed to survey the community and help make decisions about a successful transition to having a new district.
“The survey results came back, and they were all over the place,” Gray said. “A significant amount wanted to be the Red Devils, but there were also about 250 suggestions of different mascots and colors and combinations.”
Other mascot suggestions included the Knights, the Phoenix and the Eagles. The new district’s colors will be red and white with gold trim, Gray said. He said many parents suggested the Titans and that the mascot is fitting for what the district aims to be.
“Everybody remembers the movie Remember the Titans. It’s a story about unifying a team,” he said. “We’re trying to unify the school, unify the community. We want that for Jacksonville.”
The Titan mascot also relates to the Little Rock Air Force Base, which was a part of the Titan II Missile program during the Cold War.
“What we want to do is find something that ties us to our [Air Force base], which is an asset to our community,” Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher said. “There’s so much that brings us together, and education is one of the key foundations of that. It’s something that reflects the relationship with the base and the community.”
One special meeting for the changing of the mascot was held, and residents stated their opinions during town hall meetings that took place over four months. Gray said board members, alumni and parents were “passionate” at the meetings.
Gray, who attended North Pulaski High School, said he sees the mascot change as a healthy, new beginning. There was a disconnect between the schools and the community before, he said, and school board members believed it was important to make a unifying change; however, they also expected disagreements.
“It was a situation where we knew we weren’t going to make everybody happy,” he said.
The mascot switch didn’t get a unanimous vote because one board member was concerned about the costliness of the change, and another wished for a different mascot, Gray said.
“We’re competing in a world with schools around us that are brand-new, state-of-the-art schools,” Fletcher said. “The best way to fix your reputation is to create a new one.”
Gray said many of the existing logos will be an easy fix. He said many band and sports uniforms just say “Jacksonville,” and if there are Red Devil logos on them, the school can order patches to cover them. The gym floors are scheduled to be refinished this year, and the natural-grass football field can have a logo spray-painted on the field.
“You may see some Red Devil stuff, but it’s definitely going to be phased out,”
he said.
A new Jacksonville High School is planned to open in fall 2019, and the mascot and logo will be implemented into the new campus as it is built. A meeting will be held Wednesday to decide on the final design of the Titan logo.
“Obviously, we’re not going to spend millions of dollars renovating a high school that will be torn down in a few years,” Gray said.
Now that a new mascot has been chosen, the board will continue to focus on what’s best for the new school district.
“As we move forward, everyone will unite,” Gray said. “The board is 100 percent focused on our kids.”
Staff writer Syd Hayman can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or shayman@arkansasonline.com.