The superintendent of the West Orange-Cove CISD Thursday night said the district is looking at ways to protect the image of the West Orange-Stark Mustangs by overseeing official images.
Rickie Harris spoke at a community meeting to talk about possible licensing requirements for T-shirts and other items with the flying WO-S image and the district’s seal of the mustang horse.
“One thing we cannot have is our logo being misrepresented,” he said.
The high school won the state football championship in December. Many individuals sold T-shirts and sweatshirts for games and after the win.
Harris said the district’s image is hurt by misspelled words and some phrases. “We’ve got to make sure things look good and decent,” he said.
At this time, the district has “no control over the logo and whether (a product) is appropriate,” he said.
The school board had a discussion two weeks ago about licensing. The superintendent said he wanted to have a community discussion of the subject. Four people who have been involved in making shirts attended the meeting.
One person said a rumor on social media claimed the district wants 75 percent of the sales from individuals selling T-shirts. Harris said that is not true and the district will not make “a whole lot of money” on T-shirts and other items with the district’s logo. “Shirt sales are not going to help meet my $20 million budget,” he said.
The superintendent said he would like to have a Mustang Store to sell items and tickets to athletics. The store could be tied to an entrepreneur class for students. A store, though, is about two years in the future.
Harris admitted the district does not own the letters ‘W,’ ‘O’ and ‘S.’ However the logo with the ‘flying’ belongs to the school.
Four people who made and sold T-shirts attended, along with two school board members.
Stacey Ebard, who owns Huddle T’s on Western Avenue, said she is concerned about supplying customers what they request on a T-shirt. Most of the shirts she made had players’ photographs on them and were requested by parents.
“Nobody is going to shut you down over printing a photograph of a player,” Board President Ruth Hancock responded.
Larry Spears, a member of the Orange City Council, said he and his wife started making T-shirts because they couldn’t find quality WO-S shirts in area businesses. “There was no supply but a large demand,” he said.
Harris said T-shirts sold by sanctioned groups like booster clubs, PTAs, the Fillies or cheerleaders are approved by the district.
Harris said no decision has been made and information is still being gathered.
Social Media