Go to jail? Why the Eanes school board asked a political candidate to stop using its logo

The Eanes school district has decided not to file a temporary restraining order against a school board candidate after he agreed to stop using the district’s official logo in campaign materials.

Aaron Silva, who is one of three candidates running to replace school board member Jennifer Champagne, had placed the red and blue Eanes district crest within the “V” of “Silva” on several digital campaign ads since launching his run for office in February.

The district argued his use of the logo gave the false impression it had endorsed Silva, while Silva said he was just trying to make it clear what office he was running for.

In a Tuesday night meeting, the board passed on an option to file a temporary restraining order against Silva after receiving a letter that same day from Silva’s campaign, board President James Spradley said.

Use of the Eanes logo wasn’t in the candidate guidelines on the website and Silva used it because he thought it would help people understand the position he’s running for, Silva said in a statement.

Silva decided not to sign off on a formal agreement “because it was dumb idea (sic) and a waste of time and resources,” he said in the letter. “I realized Monday evening when I got word the District was interested only in stopping my erroneous use of the logo, but not in figuring out how the mistake happened.”

The last instance of a post containing the crest on Silva’s campaign feed on X, formerly Twitter, was March 14.

The crest is blue with a red top and contains a blue and white “E” with a star in the middle. Silva had previously placed the crest between the arms of the “V” in his name.

Use of the logo by anyone running for the school board is an issue because districts aren’t allowed to use taxpayer resources or funding to endorse candidates or causes, Spradley said. And the district didn’t sign off on Silva's use of the logo, he said.

“We're looking at this if any company, any group was using our property without our permission,” Spradley said.

In a March 6 letter to Silva, the district’s outside counsel Amber King — an attorney with Thompson & Horton LLP — insisted use of the logo gave the impression the district endorsed Silva.

King spoke with representatives from Silva’s campaign Feb. 21 and Feb. 27 about the logo, but campaign materials still contained the crest as of March 6, according to the letter.

“The District’s logo is not public property and is not available for use without proper licensing and authorization by the District,” King wrote in the letter.

By Thursday night, Silva launched a webpage on his campaign website under the domain name notaneaneslogo.com to call on supporters to cover up the district's logo on his political signs that had been distributed.

"One would think this would not be a big deal and could be resolved pretty easily, but no," Silva wrote on his website. "Eanes ISD hired outside attorneys, sent threatening letters (saying I could go to jail)."

Silva asked his supporters to cover the district's crest on his signs with a sticker reading, "Not an Eanes logo."

"If you don't want to see me go to jail over this and you have campaign swag with the Eanes Crest on it, cover it up with the sticker we provided," he said on his website.

Silva, who in 2021 sued the Eanes district over its masking requirement during the COVID-19 pandemic, is running against Kelly Marwill and Catherine Walker for the Place 5 school board seat.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin area school board candidate agrees to stop using district logo