Father questions motives behind mural's coverup

Archive for Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Tanner McCleary, left, and Brandon Clark, right, pose with a new mural in the Bonner Springs High School football locker room. McCleary spray painted the mural as part of a locker room repainting project that serves as both an Eagle Scout project and senior project for Clark.

By Caroline Boyer

November 2, 2011

A year ago, Bonner Springs High School student Brandon Clark decided to refurbish the school’s locker room as a combination senior project and Eagle Scout project.

Now the locker room has another new look — but it came as a surprise to Clark, who is now in college.

James Clark, Brandon’s father, said his son was upset when he went to football practices over the summer to talk to former teammates and discovered the mural he had had painted in the locker room had been painted over.

School officials say there was never any promise of the mural remaining there permanently; James Clark says he thinks that given his son’s hard work on the project, he deserved to be contacted about the change.

“For my son’s peace of mind, I wish the school would call him and explain it to him,” James Clark said.

Brandon Clark chose to remodel the locker room last year because, as a member of the football team, he was tired of the shabby condition of the room and knew the district hadn’t had the time or money to work on it.

With the school’s blessing, he repainted the room to make it cleaner and brighter, pulled out the locker room benches and repainted them, and repainted the floor. He also had his friend and 2009 BSHS graduate Tanner McCleary spray paint a mural on the wall to give the locker room some personality.

James Clark said when his son first learned the mural had been painted over, he couldn’t seem to get a straight answer out of anyone as to why it was removed.

“Nobody seems to want to talk about it; they’re almost evasive,” Clark said.

But Joe Hornback, BSHS principal, said there was no intention to hide the fact that the mural had been painted over; in fact, he said, the school regularly removes student artwork.

“It wasn’t anything that was done maliciously or mean-hearted,” Hornback said.

Hornback said BSHS often allows students to create artwork on school walls, but there is no promise of permanence. He said other artwork has been painted over in the past to create space for current students’ projects.

“We don’t have the luxury to have any student work up forever,” Hornback said. “… I can’t think of any place where we have something that is permanent.”

Hornback said because the mural had been up for about a year and the school hired a new football coach, Lucas Aslin, it was the coach’s prerogative to make whatever changes he wanted to the locker room. The mural was painted over so the wall could be used as an honor wall for football players, Hornback said.

James Clark said this was largely surprising because the locker room hadn’t been updated for about 30 years, and it was strange to learn it had received another new look was added so quickly.

Because the school encourages the students to put so much hard work into their senior projects, James Clark said he’d like to see the favor returned when those projects are removed.

“I wish they’d at least had enough respect to call my son and tell him what they were going to do,” Clark said. “I’m disappointed they couldn’t have told him in advance so he didn’t have to learn about it later from someone else.”

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jjones_kc (anonymous) says…

This does not amaze me at the school districts, more specifically the high school's, audacity and disrespect. It figures they would respond with some absurd reference to some policy and lack of student rights.

This kid put more work in fixing the locker room to something that was respectable and showed the schools spirit than they had attempted over at least the last 20 years. While they hid under the guise of no money available in the budget to maintain it the locker room.

It seems that they managed to find the money to change it a little bit over a year after it was booming with school spirit.

I am ashamed to say I graduated from Bonner Springs High School given the administration and school boards actions over the last 4+ years.
November 3, 2011 at 11:12 a.m.
MidwestLady (anonymous) says…

Did you seriously think it would last forever??? Grow up and move on.
November 4, 2011 at 3:46 p.m.
jlacicero (anonymous) says…

The issue is not the permanence of any artwork: the issue is respect for others and common courtesy towards others.
November 5, 2011 at 10:38 a.m.
jlacicero (anonymous) says…

in addition to my previous comment of November 5: I believe it would have been good manners for the main office to have informed Brandon of the administration's approval to paint over his work. I believe Brandon, as well as his Dad, would have felt better. Open communication can lead to understanding and cooperation.
November 5, 2011 at 12:50 p.m.
observer (anonymous) says…

These senior projects are very important to the students. The teachers also emphasize how important they are. Why then can't the principal acknowledge that someone could have given Brandon a call. He put a lot of effort and MONEY into his project.
Is it true that the honor wall consists of a piece of paper with a FB player's picture on it? Also, there are several student projects and class items all over the HS. What if that was your son or daughter's?
November 6, 2011 at 10:15 a.m.
jjones_kc (anonymous) says…

I would not expect it to last forever but at least as long as the previous effort put forth by the school to refurbish that area. 3yrs, 5yrs, 20 yrs? That student raised the funds to refurbish the locker room and put in the man hours because the school could not come up with them.

In looking at this from a financial perspective (my taxes), it was just purely foolish of the school administration to spend those funds and man hours on an area that didn't need it.

In looking at this from a school core value perspective it seems it is more of a, do as I tell you not as i do. Which is par for the course.
November 7, 2011 at 10:07 a.m.

Point of View

The postal service is cutting back hours at some rural post offices. How often do you go to the post office?

“For my own personal use, I only go a couple times a year to mail gifts, usually around Christmas and family birthdays. At that time I usually buy a couple books of stamps that last for most of the year! For professional use, I go a couple times a month to check our PO Box.”

— Erin Evans

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