High school seniors rally to save their personalized painted parking spots
By Daniel Wilkerson
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LOGANVILLE, Georgia (WUPA) — Seniors at a Gwinnett County high school organized to protect their parking spot art after the school district said their paintings would be removed.
Students at Grayson High School were surprised when they were told their personalized parking spots had to go.
What happened next had people in the town, about an hour northeast of Atlanta, talking.
Senior Brook Burns was excited to be part of bringing a national trend to her school.
“Here at Grayson High School, we have something called senior stamp,” Burns said. “It gave seniors the ability to paint their parking spots.”
She said principal Dr. Rukina Stewart approved the project. Fifty-eight seniors signed up to take part, each paying $20 and buying their own art supplies.
“We had music out here. Some people even had tents out because it was hot,” Burns said.
But at the start of homecoming week, Burns said she and other seniors were told they couldn’t have their parking spots anymore.
She said the news was devastating.
“I just thought of my friend Milan Cannon, who actually founded it, and thought about how much hard work and effort she put into getting it approved,” she said.
The seniors began organizing alongside Cannon to save what she created.
“When you have so many people backing you up—I’m talking about parents, teachers from other schools, and your own peers backing you up—you’re comforted,” Cannon said.
The group looked through Gwinnett County’s laws. Burns started an online petition that quickly grew to hundreds of signatures.
To their surprise, the district reversed its decision. For this year only, seniors are keeping their painted spots.
“I am proud of the organized and respectful way you expressed your concerns,” principal Stewart wrote in a letter to the students.
“We knew the right way is always following the rules, and us as students, we stay in our place and do what we can,” Burns said.
Justin Burns, Brooke’s father, says her actions to save the art made him and his wife proud.
“We raised her to always be respectful, be kind, and always speak positive, and just do the right thing. Between that, church, and all of these leadership clubs she’s a part of, leads and things like that, man, she’s just got God’s hand on her,” he said.
CBS News Atlanta learned from the district that the school did not follow the proper channels to get the project approved.
The district says it reversed the decision because it did not want the students to be penalized for poor communication.
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