Pedro Menendez field may be named after first principal

The St. Johns County School Board is set to vote next week on naming the football field at Pedro Menendez High School after the school’s first principal, Bill Mignon.

Mignon, who died last year at age 86, served as a member of the School Board for 16 years and worked as a teacher and administrator in St. Johns County for decades. Mignon also was a U.S. Army veteran and led or worked with a number of local organizations like the St. Augustine Kiwanis Club and the St. Augustine Jaycees. 

Mignon’s two children, Pat and Michele, both attended public schools in St. Johns County. 

Pat Mignon says he appreciates the work of Pedro Menendez Principal Ted Banton for supporting the move up to this point.

“A lot of times, people just get forgotten,” Pat Mignon says, “but Principal Banton, he’s just been really great about pushing that forward and doing that.”

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Honoring Mignon in this way has been a long time coming — the district considered naming Trout Creek High School after Mignon last year. 

The School Board will decide whether to rename the football field during its board meeting beginning at 4 p.m. Tuesday. The meeting will be in the auditorium at the School Board headquarters at 40 Orange Street and broadcast live online. 

The decision will come just days after Pedro Menendez’s varsity football team hosts Jacksonville’s Bishop Kenney High School in a competition for a district title. So far this season, Pedro Menendez has three wins to three losses, while Bishop Kenny boasts four wins and two losses.

That game kicks off at 7 p.m. Friday at Pedro Menendez High School on State Road 206 in St. Augustine.