Student-created mural painted over at Oregon school

LAKE OSWEGO, Ore., Sept. 16 (UPI) -- An Oregon principal says he regrets having a mural that 350 students helped create painted over in the conversion from an elementary to a middle school.

Artist Betsy Reid said she was aghast when her 13-year-old daughter informed her that the 325-square-foot mural she designed for Lake Oswego's Bryant Elementary School had been painted over during the summer as part of the facility's transformation from an elementary school into Lakeridge Junior High, The (Portland) Oregonian reported Monday.

Reid said she was surprised to find Principal Kurt Shultz had ordered the move.

"If somebody had gone in and defaced the mural with spray paint or something, it would be big news," Reid said. "And the reality is that the mural was totally defaced, but it was OK'd by our principal."

Reid designed the mural for $4,800 and it was created with help from about 350 students and 35 staff members.

Shultz said he now regrets having the gym wall repainted.

"As I look back on the summer and the decisions I made, I should have probably done something differently in the handling of how we dealt with the Bryant mural," he said. "I did a little bit of investigation into the history of that, but clearly didn't investigate far enough."