Alvirne paints over history in the hallways

Repainting is a tedious task that any building owner must do every so often. It’s basic building maintenance. Rarely does such a task create uproar, but so it is at Alvirne High School. Over the last few months, the slow process of repainting the walls has begun at Alvirne, starting with the third floor: a fresh coat of white paint over the dilapidated and dirty cream-colored walls. However, not all of the walls were empty – not all of the walls had been devoid of new paint for 10 or so years. Some of them possessed marvelous and imaginative displays of Bronco talent in the form of student-painted murals – but not anymore. “I feel like it was a slap in the face to come to school one day to find that the murals had been painted over,” senior Amelia Bois-Rioux said. Bois-Rioux said it would have been better if the administrators had consulted the students before painting instead of afterward. The administrators had pictures of all of the murals taken with which to create a collage. The plan is to paint murals on a canvas and to hang the canvas in the hallway to avoid any future repainting calamities. Bois-Rioux also said one of the murals was painted by a student from the Class of 2004 who later took his own life. However, even after the cries of protest, the administration will continue to have the rest of the murals painted over so as to not discriminate against any mural in particular. One of the most recent murals that has already been erased was a beautiful painting of the Arc de Triomphe by the French National Honor Society.