Book Titles Put School Mural in Doghouse

Educators at Ericson Elementary School altered a children’s mural that features stacks of books as stairways to the wonders of the universe, painting over the titles of books banned at one time or another by schools and libraries in the United States.

Ken Keegan, an Ocean Beach artist who supervised the painting of the mural by Ericson students last October as part of the San Diego Unified School District’s artists-in-schools program, learned only this week that the titles were painted over last spring after one or more teachers and parents complained that they were not appropriate for elementary school-age students to see.

The titles included “The Catcher in the Rye” by J. D. Salinger, “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck, “Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain and “Ulysses” by James Joyce.

“It really bothers me,” said Keegan, who devised the idea for putting the titles on the “stairs” after seeing a list of books that had been banned in San Diego or elsewhere.

Keegan was an artist-in-residence at Ericson in Mira Mesa as part of the school district’s Young at Art program, funded with a $3.75-million grant from philanthropist Muriel Gluck. He also helped students paint a mural of underwater scenes, including a Shamu-like whale, that now graces the walls of an Ericson lunch arbor.

“I knew the vice principal (Patricia Callan) was upset, because she called me to tell me that the book titles were not appropriate, but I never knew they had painted them over because I never gave them permission to do it,” Keegan said. “My feeling was that, if the kids can read that well (to know the titles), they ought to be able to read the books if they want.”

Keegan said he did offer as a compromise to paint titles of children’s books that have been banned in various schools and libraries, such as “The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss, but the school never took him up on his offer.

“The whole thing is ludicrous,” Keegan said.

Ericson Principal Stewart Brown said this week that, while Keegan “worked well” with students on the underwater mural, the mural with the stairstep books resulted from “these artists who are impressed with themselves . . . who feel strongly about leaving their mark at a school.”

“These artists feel they should be able to express themselves in any way that they want,” Brown said.

While the principal said he “is a liberal and was not jumping up and down” with anger at the completed mural, “I did have people I had to respond to who felt it was inappropriate.”

“We don’t need some artist to come out here and leave his mark,” Brown said. “If he has an ax to grind, this is not the place to do it; he can do it on the bridge to Coronado Island if he wants to.”

Brown referred to the school district’s new literature program for elementary students, and said the artist should have thought instead about painting titles of “the many good books” that are now a regular part of the reading curriculum.

“We are trying to get kids to read more books, and if we were in an area where there were books on a banned list, well, perhaps” the mural could have been used as a learning exercise, Brown said. “But I just don’t think of it as appropriate at this age level; maybe if we were a junior high or middle school, or high school instead.

“I don’t think a second-grader would understand what the mural was about, anyway.”

The district’s basic arts education coordinator said she understands Keegan’s intent and finds it difficult to believe that children could be harmed by seeing such a mural.

But Kay Wagner said she also has a responsibility to allay the school’s concerns.

“I know it’s almost unbelievable to people who are involved in real life, but there are schools which are very much afraid of having an artist” visit as part of the Young at Art program, she said.

“We have to explain to many schools that artists are not some kind of aliens, that they won’t do outrageous things, that they will do things for kids, that they will boost pride in the school neighborhood,” she said. “That’s how I have had to sell the program, because schools know that artists are sociopolitical animals.

“You have to know what a real dilemma this was for me,” she said.

Even though Wagner said she was “admittedly surprised” at Ericson’s reaction to the mural, she had another artist go out to the school last spring and obliterate the book titles.

Ultimately, she said, “a school has to live with what was painted after an artist leaves, and I wanted to keep the peace.”

She added: “An artist has to be willing to play the game (as part of) participating in the Young at Art program. Schools can’t be shocked.”

Keegan is no longer part of the program, but the Parent-Teacher Organization at Ocean Beach Elementary hired him this year to paint a mural on the ceiling of the school’s auditorium.