In 2019, Naomi Doherty received a $2,500 grant for her proposal of a diversity mural at Eureka high. She worked with four clubs at eureka high, the Black Student Union, the Latin X club, the Native American club, and the Pacific Islanders to construct a mural on campus. With building the mural they intended to use it as a tool to celebrate the school’s diversity and represent the fifty-one percent of the students who are BIPOC. Naomi worked with each club to begin drafting the four murals. The intent was for the students within the club to create a vision for their piece based on what they wanted their mural to show. In April of 2021, Sharrone Blanck of the NAACP raised over $5,000 towards both hiring BIPOC artists to paint the murals and for the materials that would be needed.

The stage was set for the drafting and the construction of the murals. However, Doherty was asked to create a set of guidelines for the murals planned to be built and for all future Eureka City Schools murals to come. This was an unusual request as no previous murals on campus had gone through any official process of approval. She agreed and created a set of guidelines that were edited by both the principal of Eureka highschool Jennifer Johnson and the former Eureka city schools assistant superintendent Michael Davis-Hughes. Davis-Hughes brought the mural standards to an ECS board meeting in late October. The mural standards brought about a debate within the meeting about what should be deemed acceptable for campus murals. Discussion about acceptable locations for the murals, size of murals and, the idea that in some cases the message the club intends to convey is not always what others interpret. The board ultimately decided that the standards could not be approved without the inclusion of location, size, and who can or cannot propose murals, more specifically whether students outside of clubs can propose murals. These new inclusions were taken into consideration by Doherty. Changes were made to the standards and the revised set was brought to another ECS board meeting in mid-November. The guidelines were once again rejected by the board. Van Vleck made the statement that it was the board that should make guidelines for the approval of school murals, not staff members. He also expressed that it was too difficult for the board to create a simple set of guidelines for a complex problem of what was deemed too controversial for school murals.

By this point in time, the Eureka community became involved with the issue. Many supporters of the cause attended the meeting in early December to voice their support of the project and their concern about the ban. Board member Susan Johnson who was absent at the November meeting was present at the meeting in early December and apologized for her being absent concerning the vote of the mural standards. She asked the board to place the standards on the agenda for the next meeting, this was approved.

The next meeting took place on the thirteenth of January of 2022. This time all board members were present and the mural project was on the agenda. Numerous students of Eureka high school participated in the discussion as did other community members. Student of Eureka high and the vice president of the Latin X club Jennifer Celio Aburto gave a passionate speech concerning the topic, “While I plan to go to a four-year university I often feel like I fall into a certain mindset where I feel convinced that I can’t do it. Because how can I do something that big, if I can’t get a few board members to change their mind and agree that this mural project is beneficial to my community, and how can I change the world. Considering the social issues in today’s world we need to be in control and fight for a better future, to dream big and celebrate our heritage, but instead, we are being discouraged from doing so.” Many others participated in the discussion, all with similar views that the mural project is about celebrating and embracing our diversity. The project was designed to bring our community together and unify us at a time when we feel so divided. The people of Eureka had spoken and it was now the board's time to come to a decision. After a very short discussion, the guidelines were unanimously voted in favor of approval. Both the clubs involved and Doherty expressed their excitement for a final decision. They plan to move forward with the plan for constructing the murals in the near future. As for the other students, they seem to be happy with the approval for the murals and many of them are excited to see the murals take their place on our campus.

Opalach, Jacquelyn. “Eureka City Schools Board Overturns Mural Ban, Making Way for BIPOC Student Art.” Lost Coast Outpost, Lost Coast Outpost, 18 Jan. 2022, https://lostcoastoutpost.com/2022/jan/18/eureka-city-schools-board-overturns-mural-ban-maki/.

Opalach, Jacquelyn. “Eureka City Schools Board Will Reconsider Recent Ban on Murals; Community Members Urge Board to Examine Its Biases.” Lost Coast Outpost, Lost Coast Outpost, 10 Dec. 2021, https://lostcoastoutpost.com/2021/dec/10/eureka-city-schools-board-will-reconsider-recent-b/.

Opalach, Jacquelyn. “After Eureka City Schools Board Votes to End Murals, Community Rallies for BIPOC Student Clubs That Were Planning Murals of Their Own.” Lost Coast Outpost, Lost Coast Outpost, 9 Dec. 2021, https://lostcoastoutpost.com/2021/dec/9/after-eureka-city-schools-board-votes-end-murals-c/.