The Okaloosa County School District unveiled the mascot and colors for its new K-8 school during Monday’s board workshop, announcing that Pineview will be known as the Bears with purple and white as the school colors.

• Assistant Superintendent Grant Meyer told board members that bears were “overwhelmingly the favorite” when the district sought input from employees about potential mascots for the school opening in August 2026.

“When you put out and ask for information, you get plenty of other opinions as well,” Meyer said. “And the Bears were overwhelmingly the favorite.”

For the elementary side of the K-8 campus, the school will use paw prints and Cubs as part of the branding, Meyer said.

• The purple and white color scheme was selected because the district doesn’t currently use purple at any other schools, according to Evanchyk, who joked, “we don’t have purple anywhere else, and we like it!”

Meyer explained that having the mascot and colors finalized helps with designing the building and branding athletic spaces, cafeterias and the front of the school. The information will also assist with marketing the new campus.

Construction on the new school remains on schedule, with all foundations complete and structural framing underway, Meyer reported. The Pineview Bears will serve approximately 900 students when the facility opens, with 450 in kindergarten through fifth grade and 450 in sixth through eighth grade.

The school is being built on 49 acres west of the new Crestview Bypass and will have capacity for 1,200 students. The new campus is the District’s first new construction since 2007-2008 and aims to provide relief to overcrowded elementary and middle schools in the north end of the county.