By MARK SARDELLA

WAKEFIELD — Last night’s “Wakefield Warrior Community Forum” was billed as “a great opportunity for the WMHS community to hear more about the work, ask questions, share input and get involved” in the work regarding a new Warrior logo.

The forum was part of a “process” laid out by the School Committee after they voted last March to eliminate the traditional warrior logo that had represented the school for nearly 75 years. That logo was deemed objectionable due to its depiction of a Native American.

Last year’s School Committee vote to eliminate the logo was followed by a “Resolution” which evolved into a School Department policy on “Logos, Mascots and Team Names.” The policy set forth a process by which a new logo would be chosen. That process would include a student forum, a community forum and the creation of a committee that would propose a few different options to become the new Warrior logo.

The student forum took place at WMHS on December 15.

Last night’s community forum was led by School Superintendent Doug Lyons and Wakefield Memorial High School principal Amy McLeod. The forum was “facilitated” by WMHS English teacher Will Karvouniaris.

Conducted online via Zoom, the forum encountered early technical difficulties and came on line almost 15 minutes late.

Lyons asserted at the start of the forum that the decision to change the logo was “in response to feedback from Indigenous persons in Massachusetts and across the country.” The goal, he said, was to “bring people together to make a new logo that represents our teams and our high school.”

Karvouniaris’s portion of the meeting used the Zoom chat feature to solicit feedback. The first question asked about people’s “hopes” for the process of selecting a new logo.

Respondents hoped the process would “represent the heritage of the town,” “show respect for all,” “unify the community,” “include the Bayrd and Galvin families,” and be “open-minded” and “forward-thinking.”

Karvouniaris then asked participants to write in the chat box about their “fears” regarding the new logo.

One participant feared the process would “get stuck and actionable steps will be stalled.” Another feared that people wouldn’t be open to compromise. One respondent was concerned that Wakefield Native Americans like the Bayrd family would be left out of the process.

Others feared that division in the community would resurface and some would not be willing to move on from the old logo and would reject whatever new imagery was chosen.

Karvouniaris then showed a slide with the definition of a logo and 20 examples of well-known logos. He asked participants to list positive attributes of the school community that could be represented in a logo.

Responses included “respect for all,” “inclusive” “honor, pride and bravery.” Other word and phrases suggested were “welcoming,” “strong,” “caring,” “courageous,” “perseverance” and “determination and grit.”

WMHS Principal Amy McLeod said that information gathered in the chats would she shared with the yet-to-be-formed committee, which will be structured in accordance with the guidelines outlined in the policy.

According to the policy, the committee will include the school principal or her designee, school faculty and staff members, students, parents and community members as well as WMHS Alumni and a representative of the athletic boosters.

McLeod said that the committee would meet just a few times in January and February and work to create some logo options to forward to the Superintendent.

Anyone wishing to serve of the logo committee was invited to email warriorlogocommittee@wpsk12.org and include a short paragraph explaining their interest in serving on the committee.

In response to a question raised at last night’s forum, assurances were again made that the Warrior name would not change. Asked how a new logo could be created without taking the Warrior name into account, McLeod replied, “That is the work of the committee.”

Anyone wishing to offer further feedback was invited to use the aforementioned email, warriorlogocommittee@wpsk12.org.