Weber district names new high school West Field Longhorns as homage to local history
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- This architectural rendering shows the planned new Weber School District high school to be built in the Taylor area, opening in time for the 2024-2025 school year. The drawing is conceptual and school officials say some details and colors will likely change as construction progresses.
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- A mockup created by Coleman Knitting of a possible logo for the new West Field High School in Taylor.
The new high school being built in Taylor in western Weber County now has a name, mascot and colors.
The newly christened West Field High Longhorns will wear burnt orange and white as the main colors, with silver and black as accent colors.
Weber School District officials announced the name of the new school, being built at 4300 W. 2200 South, at their board meeting Wednesday night, culminating a monthslong process of naming committee meetings and district surveys sent out to affected community members.
The name and mascot have ties to local history specific to Taylor and the surrounding area, according to a presentation at the meeting made by Gina Butters, the incoming district superintendent.
Taylor was referred to at one time as “The West Field,” according to information gleaned from a county history book by one of the people involved in the school naming process, Butters said.
Longhorns are a type of cattle known for their long horns protruding from each side of their head. Western Weber County is an area heavy in agriculture — hence the district going with Longhorns.
After starting out with hundreds of suggestions, the district board of education picked the name West Field High over two other finalists: Lakeside, for the area’s proximity to the northern part of the Great Salt Lake, and Grandview, for the wide mountain views one has in western Weber County.
The mascot came down to Longhorns or Ducks, according to the presentation. The burnt orange and white color scheme with Longhorns is expected to be identical to the nationally known University of Texas Longhorns athletic programs’ color scheme.
As for adding black and silver for accent colors, Butters said in the presentation those were intended as “unifying” colors, since the new school will be built between Roy High (gold and black) and Fremont High (blue and silver) and take students from those two schools.
The new school, which is being built after voters approved a bond measure in November, is expected to open in 2024. School boundaries haven’t been set at this time.
In the same board meeting Wednesday night, the district announced a bevy of administrative changes for the upcoming school year brought on by numerous retirements at the district office and in the schools.
Both current district assistant superintendents, Lori Rasmussen and Art Hansen, are retiring along with district superintendent Jeff Stephens. Butters will take Stephens’ spot as superintendent and the new assistant superintendents will be Clyde Moore and David Hales.
Also at the district office, Larry Hadley will be the new facilities director, replacing the retiring Scott Zellmer. Nicole Meibos, the principal at Two Rivers High, will be the district’s new human resources director, replacing Hadley.
Teri Spiers, the current principal at South Ogden Junior High, will move to Two Rivers High as principal. Wendy Long, current principal at North Ogden Junior High, will take over at South Ogden.
Sherry Patton, current principal at Sand Ridge Junior High, will take over as principal at North Ogden. Quinn Talbot is the new principal at Sand Ridge.
Roy High and Bonneville High will have new principals as Brock Mitchell (Bonneville) and Matt Williams (Roy) move to the district office overseeing secondary education.
Rich Murray, the current principal at Roy Junior High, will take over as Bonneville principal. Mike Martini, the principal at Kaysville Junior High in Davis County, will become Roy High’s new principal.
Rob Lake, an assistant principal at Weber High, will be the new principal at Roy Junior High.
TH Bell principal Lenn Ward is retiring at the end of the school year. Snowcrest Junior High principal Heather Hardy will be TH Bell’s principal next year. Don Morse, assistant principal at North Ogden Junior High, moves to Snowcrest.
Mary Jo Williams, principal at Orchard Springs Elementary, will be the new elementary education director at the district office and Heather Nielson, Plain City Elementary principal, will be the new elementary education supervisor.
New elementary school principals are Becky Dills (Orchard Springs), Brent Hogan (Bates), Katie Amsden (Burch Creek), Shelly Harris (Roosevelt), Laura Wright (West Weber), David Thal (Roy), Jeff Marchant (Washington Terrace), Crystal Deamer (Valley), Mike Yardley (Uintah) and Sherilyn Elliott (Plain City).