CAMARILLO : Mural Meets With School Board Approval

Santa Rosa School Principal Katie Merrill thought she was abiding by school district rules.

When an Eagle Scout offered to do some painting at the Camarillo elementary school, Merrill pointed to the old, wooden handball wall that was starting to splinter.

“I suggested that instead of just painting it a solid color, paint the name of the school and the logo,” she said. “I thought it would be a positive message about our school.”

Although Merrill advised Pleasant Valley Elementary School District staff about her plans, she didn’t approach the board.

Merrill, who came to the district just last year, said she thought that board approval was necessary for artistic murals but not for signs displaying only a school name and logo.

Parent Gloria Carrera designed and sketched the 8-foot-by-8-foot eagle, which is the school’s logo, and Scout Byron Englebrecht supervised a team of Scouts in the painting in July.

Then Merrill discovered her mistake.

As summer reading, she was poring through the thick handbook of Pleasant Valley board policies when she saw the rule requiring prior board review of any large school signs. “It was pretty explicit,” she said.

She called the district office. And on Thursday, the school board agreed unanimously that it was pleased rather than upset by the mural.

“I drove by and said ‘Wow,’ ” board member Jeanette McDonald said. “It just made you feel good about that school.”