Charles Crane/MDN Minot Public School Board members, from the left, Sabrina Herrmann, Lacey Laudenschlager, President Mitch Kraft, Superintendent Scott Faul and Bill Irmen discuss possible directions for clarifying the branding of the Minot High School logo.

The Minot Public School Board faces a number of weighty decisions in the new year – from the type of font used in the Minot High School logo to the next steps in addressing the nine-figure price tag on deferred maintenance in the district’s facilities.

Activities Director Mitch Lunde revisited the issue of the Minot High School’s logo, which he said has developed a variety of permutations over the years from one activity to another. Lunde said a survey had been conducted with the head coaches at MHS to establish a preference for the logo and the preferred shade of gold used.

The survey results returned 16 in favor of the “Minnesota M,” while five preferred a skinnier M. Lunde said traditionally the skinnier M was used for academic and fine arts activities while the thicker “Minnesota M” was used for athletics.

Vegas gold was the preferred choice by 15 of the coaches, and six in favor of yellow gold. Lunde said getting consistent coloring for uniforms was difficult, as Vegas Gold was not a stock color that was readily replicable.

“Our letters that we’ve given out have included script Ms, and that’s through the evolution of drama wanting to be their own and being allowed to back in the day. That’s kind of where we’re at. In a nutshell, we’re all over the place to be honest with you,” Lunde said.

Board member Scott Louser, who appeared at the meeting remotely, said the MHS hockey team had been given permission to use the “Minnesota M” in the ’70s. Louser supported pursuing trademarking the logo, whatever is decided upon.

“My suggestion doing this after we have input from the people that are closest to this with the logo and M, is that we pick one of the Ms, we put it in the logo, and everything we order going forward has that logo and that M. And then we trademark it. We license it, and if somebody wants to sell a product and put our logo on it, then they owe the school district a royalty,” Louser said. “We’re already on that pace with North. It’s great, it’s consistent. Everybody recognizes it. I’d like to see the same thing here. That was the whole point of this. Then we can monetize it.”

Board member Bill Irmen raised concerns that the “Minnesota M” was already likely trademarked, and Louser clarified he was referring to the Magi logo specifically with whatever M ultimately is selected. Lunde said the Magi has been the consistent element of MHS’s logo, while the font of the M and shade of yellow has undergone a number of evolutions over the years.

Superintendent Scott Faul said he had been contacted once in his time as principal at MHS by the University of Minnesota regarding the use of the “Minnesota M.” Faul said he relayed the story of the school’s use of the logo to the UM representative and hadn’t heard anything since then.

“At my activities director’s conferences we’ve asked about trademarks, and it’s very wishy-washy. It’s a letter. It’s an M. It’s a font. Where do you draw the line?” Lunde said.

Lunde also gave a report on the state of activities in the district after the fall semester with the new alignment, which he said brought a lot of good things. Lunde said with the addition of the new middle school, work was being done to engage with students to boost participation.

“That’s an area of things we’re looking at, and it’s an area that is concerning for us just due to the amount of kids that are going out. On top of that, the number of the coaches that we have available. It’s just kind of not a good situation for us right now that we’re trying to figure out,” Lunde said.

Lunde indicated there would be two high school boys hockey teams in the 2026-2027 school year, and the All Seasons Arena at the fairgrounds will serve as the home ice for the Minot North hockey team.

The board revisited discussions to schedule a board retreat regarding the next steps in addressing the maintenance needs introduced by the District Wide Facilities Assessment. The assessment written by JLG Architects studied 22 facilities in the district, which identified a number of areas to be addressed. It came with a total cost of $143.39 million. Faul said the discussions at the retreat would be good for brainstorming, especially since there’s potential for funding opportunities to materialize during the legislative session this spring.

“Deferred maintenance is not going away. We continue to struggle and have our issues with different facilities daily. We will need to come up with a long-term plan for that and securing funding,” Faul said.

Faul wasn’t sure how much time he would be spending at the Legislature, but wanted to be sure there was fruitful conversation so he would have a better idea of what the district’s needs are. Board President Mitch Kraft said he felt multiple retreats would be needed to hammer out ideas, which board member Sabrina Herrmann agreed.