East Painting Causes Controversy

The Shawnee Mission School District has started painting all of the walls at East, beginning this week on the fifth floor. It will take four to five months for the entire school to be painted.

Students and teachers have been worried about the fates of the various murals found around the school. Principal John McKinney, at a meeting about the school being painted, described his plans for the murals. He’s working with Mr. Finkelston from the Photography department, to take pictures of all the murals and blow them up on foam boards to place throughout the school.

McKinney said he described this idea to 10 students and that nine of them were fine with it. Junior Sarah Cook is one of the students who is upset with the plan. She started a petition to protest the painting over of her mural in room 309. Cook’s petition has gotten over 900 signatures in a day.

“[It’s] really weird,” Cook said when asked about her mural getting painted over. “It’s really wasteful for something to be painted over after it’s only been there for two months.”

The walls are repainted every 10 years. The fourth and first floors will be painted a light green. The fifth and second floors will be painted a light beige color. The third floor will be a light blue. The trim of the rooms will be grey. The cafeteria and and offices will be painted neutral colors.

Future details on the painting can be found here on The Harbinger.

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