SANDY HOOK MURAL UPSETS NEWTOWN STUDENTS
Hartford — A mural inside Newtown High School that paid tribute to victims of the Sandy Hook shooting rampage has been covered by plasterboard to protect the emotional well-being of students.
Newtown Superintendent Joseph Erardi Jr. wrote in a letter to families that the mural was creating difficulties for some students as the district recovers from the December 2012 shooting that killed 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The mural was created in 2013 as a form of art therapy by Lindsay Fuori, who was then a senior at the high school.
Now a student at Boston University, Fuori says it is a difficult situation, but she disagrees with the administration’s decision. She says many students feel like they are being told to forget the tragedy.
Hartford — A mural inside Newtown High School that paid tribute to victims of the Sandy Hook shooting rampage was created as a form of art therapy.
But within two years, the administration became worried that despite its intentions, the painting of a dreamcatcher was upsetting some students. To address those concerns, painter Lindsay Fuori at the start of this school year colored over the words “In loving memory” and “12-14-12,” a reference to the date of the massacre of 20 first-graders and six educators at the elementary school.
Then in October, the Newtown superintendent had her 10-foot-by-15-foot mural covered with plasterboard.
The decision led to an online student petition rallying support for uncovering the painting, sparked debate on how to acknowledge the tragedy and provided a glimpse of the challenges facing administrators in a school system that remains in recovery three years after the shooting.
Superintendent Joseph Erardi Jr. said students and families described struggles related to the mural. In a note to families, he wrote that he knew covering it up would be controversial, but he had to act.
“During the first quarter of the present school year, ongoing student recovery, through the lens of the learner and multiple families, remained problematic at a heightened level because of the mural,” Erardi wrote Nov. 20.
Fuori, now a student at Boston University, said the blank, white wall that now greets students at the top of a stairwell might cause more problems than the painting.
Fuori, 19, painted the mural in late 2013 as part of a se- nior-year project at Newtown High School that also included research on the uses of art therapy and the creation of a guide to local therapy resources. The mural depicts 26 green beads, footprints and clouds along with the dreamcatcher, a theme she thought fitting because intrusive dreams and memories are common effects of post-traumatic stress.
Fuori said she rejected an offer last month to paint a new mural that would be subject to the administration’s approval.