Art Supporters Lament Paint-over of LCHS Mural

Following an alert from former President Terry Gordon, members of La Cañada High School's Friends of Art program assembled last week to view the summer paint-over of an enormous student mural that had been two decades in the making. The walls are now a blank, custard yellow.

Inaugurated by then-fine arts chairman Karen Mealiffe in 1981, the mural had grown over the years through 2001, and featured a broad range of cultural icons. Advanced art students coveted the unpaid commission to add their talents to existing, professional quality works.

"It was an honor for the kids to have their designs chosen," Gordon said. "No one consulted us about spray painting this out. I feel sick about it."

Current fine arts chair and teacher Mike Kauffman noted that each addition to the mural sometimes took a team of volunteer students up to a year to complete.

The LCHS band logo, a circle of musical notes, has been preserved on the rear wall of the band room facing the teachers' parking lot. Simi-larly, the Friends of Drama tile wall at the auditorium's west end was masked off for preservation during the painting, as was the school's Spartan logo adorning the front of the administration building.

Also spared was the "National Blue Ribbon" banner at the campus front. "Our art students helped this campus achieve National Blue Ribbon status," Mealiffe said, "but someone decided their work wasn't worth anything. I can't find the words that would convey the magnitude of my emotions."

Regarding the decision to paint over the mural, LCHS Principal Mike Leininger told the Sun, "I take responsibility. It's been 17 years since we painted the entire campus and we wanted to make it as bright and uniform as possible. There was no attempt to demean the art program in any way."

Of his decision as to which campus art remained, Leininger said it was not possible to paint over the Friends of Drama tiles. He added that the Spartan above the administration building represented the school mascot and considered the "National Blue Ribbon" an em-blem to identify LCHS' status as such.

According to La Cañada Unified Super-intendent Sue Leabo, instrumental music teacher Sue Hamre requested the band logo be preserved.

"I believe she was asked," Leabo said. "The district has talked openly about painting the building for about a year and no one mentioned the (fine arts) murals until after they were covered. Although I wasn't involved in the decision about painting over the murals, I would have supported the idea if asked."

In a letter of protest, Gordon took a different view. "Thanks to someone's brilliance, that legacy is now lost," she wrote Leabo three weeks ago. The letter, which was copied to Leininger, PTA Council President Char Adams and school governing board member Jinny Dalbeck, has yet to receive a response, Gordon said.