School Board Takes Action to Save Mural

The Laguna Beach Unified School District Board of Education voted Tuesday to hire an art conservator to preserve a mural by Laguna Beach High School student Megan Jones, who died of cancer three years after she painted it.

The board agreed to retain Los Angeles conservator Nathan Zakheim at a cost not to exceed $30,000, money that is to be raised in full by the private, community-based Megan Jones Mural Preservation Fund, board business manager Terry Bustillos said.

The board also approved the loan of $7,500 to the fund for an initial payment to Zakheim.

“There is a direct relationship between the board’s approval to enter into the contract and the motivation . . . that exudes from the task force,” Bustillos said. “They’re organized, they’re motivated, they made contact.” Bustillos said no date was set by which the money must be repaid.

Supporters of the mural preservation expect the school district’s signing of the contract and approval of the loan to attract additional donors.

“I think a lot of people will donate now,” said the artist’s mother, Chadlyn Jones, who is spearheading the fund-raising campaign. “When the school is not supporting it, even to the degree of putting forth just $7,500, it’s not good, but now things will change.”

Organizers have raised $11,740 in 16 days, including a $5,000 pledge from the Laguna Beach Festival of Arts. The last $500 of that was donated Tuesday night after the school board’s decision.

The mural--comprising several portraits Megan Jones made of her classmates--was painted on cafeteria walls that are scheduled to be demolished in a $10-million renovation of the school.

But Jones’ mother and other supporters rallied to save the mural and in four months have turned its fate around.

The removal work, using a method that bonds fabric to the surface of a painting and then pulls it away so it can be reattached to a permanent support, may begin as early as next week, Jones said.

The mural, which took Megan Jones 300 hours to complete, has held up well over the past seven years, her mother said, except for vandalism that occurred shortly after it was completed. Her daughter repaired the damage in the summer after she graduated in 1984.

Last month, the school board agreed that the paintings should be saved but did not commit money to the project. The group assembled at Tuesday’s meeting was surprised at the relative ease with which the school board members agreed to the allocation.

When some members of the audience credited Jones with saving the mural, she said: “It’s my daughter. She’s the motivating force. She’s pushing us right along.”

Times staff writer Cathy Curtis contributed to this article.