Written by Isabella Montemurro, Staff Writer
Over the years the band and orchestra seniors of Indian Trail High School & Academy have made a tradition of claiming and painting a brick of their own on the walls of their respective classrooms before graduating, as to “leave their mark” on the school.
The graduating band class of 2015 started the practice that the orchestra graduating senior class of 2016 soon after adopted, but in recent years much dispute has arisen regarding the long term sustainability and authorization of this tradition.
That clash between district policy and student tradition reached crescendo last summer, when new facilities staff began painting over the student bricks.
Kenosha Uni ed School District officials say the painting of the bricks on the classroom walls is considered defacing district property which is not permitted. Walls of corridors can be painted with decorative scenes or murals on substrates, but only with approval from facilities, said Kevin Christoun, KUSD Maintenance, Environmental & Safety facilities manager.
The original painting of the bricks in 2015 was not proposed to or approved by facilities, nor reported by any of the custodians as it should have been, Christoun said.
The handbook rules state: “Any employee who observes graf ti on District property shall immediately report such graf ti to the human resources department or their supervisor so that the graf ti can be promptly removed.” The previous custodial staff at Indian Trail ignored these handbook rules for years which then allowed the brick painting to continue and turn into the tradition it became.
With a new custodial staff this year, the bricks were reported as they should have been back in 2015 and subsequent years. In 2019, facilities employees did their job and acted accordingly after getting the reports the painted bricks from a new custodial staff and started painting over the Orchestra Room bricks, with plans to paint over the band bricks next.
Kevin Stewart, Indian Trail orchestra teacher, took pictures of the student artwork moments before they were painted over and currently has them framed and hung up in the orchestra room.
“When it was brought to my attention, the orchestra bricks were already painted (over) and the band bricks were being considered for painting,” said Indian Trail Principal Scott Kennow.
Alumni more so than student protest arose through emails to KUSD staff and spread over social media which soon brought the band brick painting process to a halt under the orders of Kennow and the KUSD Superintendent. While the student-painted bricks in the band room remain they were sanded down in preparation for painting giving them the appearance that they have currently.
“Everything that is up there is going to stay but we can not add more bricks” Kennow said.
Moving forward, students are no longer allowed to paint on the classroom walls as they shouldn’t have been allowed to way back in the first place, according to KUSD policy.
“We are not allowed to continue to paint bricks, that’s not even an option,” said band instructor Jeremy Kriedeman, “The most important thing should be your memories of the time spent here and the music that you made.” Stewart agreed.
“The memories that I want to create and sustain, I want them to be worth more to my kids than something they hang on the wall, I want to create lasting memories of music making that they can take with them,” Stewart said.