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. wrote in a note to families that he knew covering the mural 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.
“A lot of students feel like they’re being told to forget, and that’s not a healthy feeling, either,” she said in an interview. “It’s a very difficult situation, but I don’t think this is the solution.”
Fuori, 19, painted the mural in late 2013 as part of a senior-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.
The leadership of the high school and the school district changed after project was completed, and Fuori said she understood that Erardi in 2014 committed to removing all references to the tragedy from Newtown schools. Fuori thought the painting would be allowed to stay after she covered up the elements that administrators described as triggers for some students. Despite the compromise, she learned weeks later from a friend that the mural had been covered.
“There will always be reminders of the tragedy, but there won’t always be people around who care or understand,” Fuori said. “Now is the time to address any distressing emotions, so when students move on to work or college after graduation and find themselves overwhelmed by feelings, they know how to cope.”
Fuori said she rejected an offer last month to paint a new mural that would be subject to the administration’s approval.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Sandy Hook was closed in 2008 because of asbestos, PCBs, and damage to the roof that had led to water damage and mold. Web archive showed that internet use by the school website went silent in 2008 and briefly awakened in 2013 before the building was taken down. Dash cam video showed no evacuation of the hundreds of students who were alleged to have been in the alleged school on the day of the alleged shooting. FOIA requests unearthed dozens of photos of preparations of the school to be the stage for a FEMA training as well as the training manual. Dr. Wayne Carver was waiting for his mobile lab to show up before the shooting began. Amazon has banned the book revealing the facts. The Powers That Be didn’t want to allow the book to be published. Nobody Died at Sandy Hook was written in a scholarly fashion by scholars, 6 PhDs among them. The book is now available from another publisher and in a free pdf online.
Nobody died at Sandy Hoax people, it was a FEMA drill used as gun control propaganda…nothing more.
click on this http://thetruthfulone.com/false-flag-crisis-actors/ and decide for yourself what the heck is going on in thei country.
The parents of the children who were killed at Sandy Hook would be incredulous and fiercely disagree with this terrible hoax! It is an outrage that anyone would perpetrate this falsehood to reinforce their misguided belief that the federal government is an enemy and that anyone should be allowed to have military style weapons or that background checks are unnecessary. These are sick people who revel in creating lies on the internet. They have my sympathy for they must be leading very sad lives to do this kind of thing. May their children never get shot and killed.
Stop!!!, please and educate your self before you make anymore comments. For one thing no one has, as you refer to military style weapons except certain people with special licenses. Just because they resemble a military type rifle does not make it so. They are totally two different rifles. My self and family are ex or retired military. My father in-law was a certified gun smith, so I have a pretty good idea of what I am talking about. Any one who has been in the military knows you do not trust the government. I myself have asbestosis from my time on Navy ships and they new the dangers, but did not care. Thanks to my government I am now on liquid oxygen 24/7. My son is here today because he was armed. One morning two individuals broke into his house and he was awakened with a 2×4 to his head, but thank God he had a gun that I gave him. As soon as they saw the gun they took off like the cowards they were. He would have been dead. What I think is certain people in this country want total control just like Hitler or any other socialist minded person. Trust me when I say I will not let that happen. I have visit and lived in socialist countries and they all end up the same way, BAD. Personally I have come to a opinion that liberal/ progressivism is in it self is mental disorder. Have you even bothered to investigate the facts on Sandy Hook? If it is true it’s a terrible thing to happen, but there is a lot information out their to prove it did not.
Any one with an ounce of curiosity can easily see this was a total hoax and for people to
try to infer anyone that points out the truth is harming those poor (actor) parents is hoping
they will be politically correct (stupid) and overlook all of the obvious anomaly’s that
were so apparent, such as the porta poties, check in sign, the bumbling coronor, the dog
sitter that found the little kids on his lawn and invited them into his house and did not
bother to ask them what is there problem. The whole fiasco was poorly planned, poorly
executed and the actors should return the money they were paid for doing a lousy job. But
then as the old saying goes, close enough for government work.
Cheer up! Even you can prove its a lie.