Osseo Area Schools presented a new district logo and a staged plan to update signage across district buildings during the school board's regular meeting on Aug. 26, 2025. Executive Director of Community Relations Kaye Veil and Executive Director of Finance and Operations John Morstead led the presentation in the Educational Service Center boardroom.

The board heard that the district's previous logo, in use about 17 years, had inconsistent uses, limited flexibility for horizontal and vertical layouts and unclear color application. "It has some out outdated design elements specifically, like, our fonts," Veil said, and staff reported confusion over whether the logo appeared blue or purple in different uses.

Veil said the new logo is intended to "honor our history and look ahead to the future" and to reflect the district's stated value of "one community for all." She described the circular "o" in the mark as suggesting "movement and connection" and the subtle central "I" as a symbol of the district's commitment to "see and support every scholar and staff member and voice in our community." The primary color palette, she said, is a rich purple and warm marigold with a lighter lavender available as a tertiary color.

Morstead described a multi-year, phased rollout that prioritizes high-visibility locations and coordinates with Building a Better Future construction schedules. "We chose to start in the most visible place, that the district has, which is our three stadiums," he said, noting upgrades to stadium bleachers, fence wraps, entrance signage and new stadium-entry elements that highlight sports and championships. He said the district worked with a signage designer to develop toolkits tailored to elementary, middle and senior high buildings that emphasize consistent wayfinding, durability and school identity.

Interior changes will include standardized welcome graphics, classroom signs with optional flexible messaging panels, perpendicular blade signs for hallway wayfinding, and area-identification signage. Morstead said Brooklyn Middle School's interior package is complete and its exterior signage is in production; Osseo Senior High's exterior package is out for bid and interior updates are being staged to align with construction.

Board members praised the work and the phased approach. Veil and Morstead told the board the district will avoid unnecessary replacement costs by waiting to replace some features'for example, gym-floor logos'until scheduled maintenance ("when the time comes every few years that we sand off the floor, we'll put the new logo back down then"). Staff have been given templates, letterhead files and logo assets and were told not to discard current materials immediately.

The district said digital materials have been updated first and that printed and physical changes will proceed as budgets and project timelines allow. The presentation noted that school-level refinements to existing school logos will be coordinated sequentially starting with high schools, then middle schools and elementary schools, and that the district will monitor and address trademark or copyright concerns for school-level marks.

Board Chair Tanya Prince opened the item for questions after the presentation. Morstead and Veil declined to provide a specific total cost estimate at the meeting; they emphasized the rollout is staged to avoid unplanned expenses and to align with scheduled replacements and construction.

Brooklyn Middle School is the first site expected to complete interior updates this fall; other buildings will follow as packages are produced and construction schedules permit.