About to complete his first year as superintendent, Maurice Ghysels revealed a new logo and tagline at the Mountain View-Whisman school board meeting last Thursday. While trustees embraced the new “look and feel” of the logo and tagline, they adamantly opposed Ghysels’ suggestion to remove “Whisman” from the district’s name.
“It is imperative for us to seriously consider not removing ‘Whisman,'” said trustee Fran Kruss. “It took 30 years for the two districts to come together finally.” By changing the name, she said, “I think we’d lose a lot of history.”
With the help of marketing consultants, Ghysels began the project of revamping the district’s image — and therefore its recruiting power — by starting with its “branding,” as he calls it. In his June 1 presentation to the board, he said that although a change of logo would not suddenly boost student test scores, he believed improving the district’s image would have lasting effects on both students and staff.
“A marketing initiative is not for the sake of a marketing initiative. It’s the north star of where we’re going,” he said.
Ghysels hopes that the new “brand” will help attract both teachers and students to the district.
With school enrollment declining throughout the state, and funding coming in on a per student basis, the Mountain View-Whisman School District has tried this year to market its special programs — such as the PACT parent involvement program and the Spanish-English Dual Immersion Program which will both be at Castro School next year — to bring in students who might otherwise head to private school or to another school district.
“To improve enrollment, to make kids feel they have an association with an organization that has positive emotional feelings — that’s what it’s all about,” he said.
To aid with the marketing effort, several parents in the district offered their graphic design, public relations and marketing services pro bono, amounting to a donation of $51,000 in time, Ghysels said.
The board unanimously approved the new tagline, “Education for the world ahead” over the alternative, “Challenge. Support. Inspire.” The board also unanimously approved a new, four-color logo, designed by Castro parent Derek MacDavid, that features a person standing on a twirling globe and reaching for a star.
“Our old brand is quite adorable,” Ghysels said, referring to the former logo that features a row of smiling children. “But brands get tired. It’s time to rejuvenate ourselves.”
What’s in a name?
Another change to the logo is the removal of the hyphen in “Mountain View-Whisman School District.” Trustees liked the title without the hyphen, but three recoiled at Ghysels’ suggestion to remove the name “Whisman” altogether.When the Mountain View School District merged with the Whisman School District in 2001, the trustees at the time decided to hyphenate the name. But Ghysels, speaking carefully, said the district’s leadership team and his marketing consultants recommended removal of “Whisman” — an idea that board president Gloria Higgins and vice president Fiona Walter liked.
“A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet,” Higgins said.
Marketing consultant Kern Beare, drawing on his own experience with mergers and acquisitions in the corporate world, said that returning to a single name is more palatable for newcomers.
The hyphenated name, he said, is “inclusive, it’s compassionate, it’s all of that. But after a while, it starts to work against you. It raises more questions from new people coming in.”
But trustees Kruss, RoseMary Roquero and Ellen Wheeler disagreed. Roquero said removing “Whisman” might stir up deep-seated sentiments among the community that one district was superior to the other.
“The hyphen removal was enough at this point,” she said.
Community members who commented on the issue were also against the name change. Former Whisman School District trustee Juan Aranda, who served on the board while the two elementary districts merged, advised that the board “Be careful about erasing past pain.”
The board agreed to drop the issue, at least for the next decade.
E-mail Molly Tanenbaum at mtanenbaum@mv-voice.com
