American Canyon High School’s future students will find out Thursday if they are going to be howling, squawking or flapping their wings when they attend games and rallies.

The students — the entire student body at American Canyon Middle School and freshmen from American Canyon at Vintage High School — recently voted on the school mascot to replace the short-lived Phoenix, who was announced as a mascot in May but already lost the job.

“The phoenix is gone,” American Canyon Principal Mark Brewer said Monday.

The new options: the American Canyon High School wolves, golden eagles or falcons.

Police reported to school officials this summer that spread-winged, phoenix-like birds have been associated with gangs. A resident brought that up after the selection of the new mascot was announced, American Canyon Police Chief Brian Banducci said Tuesday.

A graphic designer for architect Quattrocchi Kwok Architects presented a sketch of a bird with its wings tucked down, a design that seemed fine to Banducci. But Brewer said he and committee members responsible for the selection of the school mascot wanted to avoid any problems down the road.

“To me, it was too much of an issue,” Brewer said.

Fifth-graders enrolled in American Canyon’s three elementary schools participated in the selection of the mascot last spring, along with students at American Canyon Middle School and residents. The students settled on the phoenix because it is a character in the Harry Potter series of books, Brewer said. The kids meant well, he said, but the phoenix symbolizes too many things, including some that are “not so good.”

“It’s just not a prudent symbol,” said Brewer, who had the students fill out ballots after Labor Day.

Brewer won’t reveal the results because he wants the kids to know the results first.

An announcement will be made Thursday at American Canyon Middle School and Vintage High School, Brewer said. On Thursday evening, he will make a presentation before the Napa Valley Unified School District’s board of trustees. The board will also seal the school colors — gold, emerald green, white and black, two of which will eventually become the school’s primary colors.

“I think they’re going to consent to whatever the kids come up with,” Brewer said.

American Canyon High School is slated to open in 2010 with about 550 freshmen and sophomores, including an estimated 300 American Canyon students who are now freshmen at Vintage High School.

Teens and parents who attended a meet-and-greet session at American Canyon’s Community Gymnasium on Friday said they believe the “wolves” is the most likely choice.

Colleen Bohannan, a freshman at Vintage High School, who will attend American Canyon High School next year, said she voted for the golden eagle because some of them do soar over American Canyon.

Mark Quattrocchi, the architect who designed the high school, said a graphic designer for his firm will draft the new mascot.

Don Evans, the NVUSD director of school planning and construction, said the mascot’s logo will be placed at different locations, including the gymnasium floor and the side of the building that faces the parking lot. The primary colors the students eventually select will be incorporated in the tiles at the school.