RUSSELLVILLE, Ky. (AP) - A western Kentucky school district is reviewing artwork at two schools amid criticism of the portrayals of African-Americans in a mural and a painting.
Local media outlets report that a mural at Russellville Independent School District’s Stevenson Elementary School painted in 1999 shows two black children working in a garden while a white man plays the violin. Jason Nobbin, a parent of two students, says he believes the art “sends the wrong message.”
Nobbin also described a painting in Russellville High School that appears to show black prisoners working in a field.
Russellville Superintendent Leon Smith says he’ll ask the school’s two site-based decision-making councils to review the pieces. He says he hasn’t previously received complaints about the mural.
Smith says 40 percent of the district’s students represent minority groups.
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