On January 5, 2026, Stafford County Public Schools unveiled new logos for their newest elementary school – Crow’s Nest and Falls Run – on social media.
However, people noticed something odd about the logos. There were complaints of inconsistencies in the logos and that the art style looks similar to styles generated by AI.
People flocked to the comment sections posting memes and expressing their dismay at Stafford County for using AI to make logos for schools when there are multiple talented students in their schools and in the local community.
Some posts calling out Stafford County for the alleged use of AI were based on the idea of art vs. artificial intelligence.
Art is defined by Merriam Webster as “The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.” A few posts questioned the actual use of art if a machine-learning bot is pulling from other artists’ original works to generate an image?
Stafford County Public School’s Chief Communications Officer, Sandra Osborn, said that the county contracted The Donovan Group, a school public relations firm to create the logos.
To seek clarification, an email to the Donovan Group was sent without reply, phone calls to the headquarters were met with automated responses, and finally their communication crisis line was contacted. A representative with The Donovan Group declined to comment on the designs.
Thomas Fischbach the creator of one of the longest running webcomics, TwoKind, said that “I’ve always been a vision person ever since I was young, and being able to transform what was in my head into pictures on paper was my form of self-expression.” Yet, some people may say that is exactly what AI does, but others believe it is unethical and can take commissions from artists who want to be commissioned for their talents
Fischbach also gave his personal opinions on AI, “I find generative AI fascinating.” He added, “As an artist, I find it concerning, just as many other artists do. I share many of the same concerns other artists have expressed: the ethics behind the training data, the disruption it will cause to the industry, and the uncertainty it will bring.”
Melissa Thach, a senior at SHS shared a similar opinion about AI generated art, “As an artist I do not support AI ‘art’ at all; I personally believe it’s unethical and will continue to be unethical for a long time.” She went on to say, “AI used to generate art is trained off of real artists’ works without consent from the artist.”
The argument has been made that there are multiple talented artists in Stafford county who would have loved to see their art being used as a school logo. “They [SCPS] could have done it as a contest!” said Brenda Edwards, an art teacher at Stafford.
A large majority of people believe AI art does not belong in schools, but there is no definitive proof that Crow’s Nest and Falls Run elementary schools logos were made by AI. The Donovan Group would neither confirm nor deny the suggestion.
”I think there were a lot of different options – even if they just had students submit ideas – and use them as a reference,” Edwards added. “Because you think that would make the students happy seeing art they have just made.”
