DAYTON–The school boards for both Waitsburg and here met for their monthly meeting and voted to accept the students' choice of sports mascot of Wolfpack. Students' winning choice here was just a few votes more than the second choice of "Kings." Waitsburg had a greater margin between their first and second choice of Kings. Other possible options presented by the Associated Student Body (ASB) of both schools were Giants, Birddogs and Vikings.

The board in Waitsburg moved to accept the student vote with no hesitation, according to vice-chair Christy House. She stated, "The board discussed how the teams will now have a mascot when we have away games versus other teams never knowing how to refer to us besides DW."

In Dayton, the vote was divided between members with two of the five voting to table it for further discussion, consideration and a chance for the public to give input. Both of these members, Grant Griffen and Fred White, are alumni of Dayton. They voiced concern about the impact on identity for themselves, the public and other alumni claiming there was not enough opportunity provided to give input for a decision that affects all of them. Another issue was potential cost of replacing current mascots with a new one and considering the possibility that the combine may not be long-term and both schools would use their original mascots again.

One suggestion brought forth was by community member, alumni and father of school-aged kids, Jeremy Trump. He suggested that the schools each retain their own mascots when they play home games at their respective schools meaning when Dayton plays home games in Dayton, the Bulldog would be used, and when Waitsburg plays home games in Waitsburg, the Cardinal would be used. For away games, he suggested both Mascots be present. Trump was concerned that the kids weren't presented with this choice even though he had suggested it a previous board meeting.

Also of concern is that students have reported that they were not aware that the February 14 vote would be final. They were told by staff and the ASB that the vote would narrow the choices to the top two and then the students would be presented with a final vote.

Even so, the Board still moved to accept the students' choice and move forward and the Wolfpack mascot was approved. Those in favor felt that the board had agreed to the process where the students would decide the mascot, and to go backwards would be deflating to the students.

"These kids put a lot of effort into this, and if we're going to extend this and put this in the community and everything, the kids are not going to 'buy in,'" said Kristina Brown, Dayton High School Principal. "They're going to feel defeated and they're not going to hear that their voice has been heard in this process. And while I honor, there's Bulldogs and there's Cardinals...the purpose of the mascot is to bring the teams together–to have one mascot so that we're not fighting back and forth–we're going to have the Bulldog at this game or we're going to have the Cardinal at this game. The good news is we're going to have the colors red, white, gold, black, so that's not changing...What about the kids? Because that's what it boils down to. It's the kids that are playing the sports. So, it's got to shift from what we want to what the kids really want."

The next steps were not discussed beyond stating the need to determine what the Wolfpack will look like as far as design and implementation.