NEWTOWN, Conn. – Officials at Newtown High School have put plasterboard over a student mural dedicated to the victims of the notorious 2012 elementary school shooting that claimed 26 lives.

In a letter to parents in November, Newton superintendent Joseph Erardi Jr. explained why he covered a mural of a dreamcatcher with 26 beads – one for each victim – that greeted high school students at the top of a stairwell, the New York Daily News reports.

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“During the first quarter of the present school year, ongoing student recovery, through the lens of the learner and multiple families, remained problematic at a heightened level because of the mural,” he wrote.

But students who helped to create the 10-foot-by-15-foot painting launched a petition shortly after the decision in an attempt to pressure officials into uncovering the art.

“With a dream catcher honoring those who have lost their lives in the Sandy Hook (Elementary) tragedy, it is a part of our town and the community,” Savannah Mather posted to Change.org. “Talented students worked very hard to paint it, and put lots of love into it, essentially representing what our town is made up of: Love and Kindness.

“Please help get our mural back, not just for us, but for those that we have lost throughout the country from school shootings.”

The artwork was originally painted in late 2013 by Lora Fuori, now a student a Boston University, who initially complied with the district’s request to cover up the words “In Loving Memory” and the date of the massacre – “12-14-12,” ABC News reports.

But apparently the alterations did not satisfy the superintendent.

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“A lot of students feel like they’re being told to forget, and that’s not a healthy feeling, either,” Fuori told the news site. “It is a very difficult situation, but I don’t feel like this is the solution.”

Fuori painted the mural with the help of student Mairin Hayes as part of a senior project that also included research on art therapy techniques she incorporated into her work.

“The mural depicts 26 green beads, footprints and clouds along with the dreamcatcher, a theme she thought fitting because intrusive dreams and memories are common effects of post-traumatic stress,” ABC News reports.

“There will always be reminders of the tragedy, but there won’t always be people around who care or understand,” Fuori said. “Now is the time to address any distressing emotions, so when students move on to work or college after graduation and find themselves overwhelmed by feelings, they know how to cope.”

Fuori told ABC News she rejected the district’s offer to paint a new mural to be approved by the administration.

Hayes wrote in comments to the online petition that she was upset because school officials covered up the student artwork without informing the artists who created it.

“It was disheartening to learn that it had been covered without our consent or knowledge,” she wrote. “This piece of art was our way of giving back, of healing through beauty and preserving and honoring the memories of those we lost.”

The 769 people who signed the Change.org petition seem to see things the same way.

“I’m signing because there’s absolutely no reason to cover it up. Covering it up is like denying your love for those 26 angels,” Newtown resident Abby Pereira posted to the site. “It’s there for a reason: to remember. Sandy Hook is a part of Newtown, and it always will be. We mustn’t hide from the past but accept it. Accept the mural. If not for us, for those little angels that will never get to see the halls of this school.”

“This mural serves as an important reminder of the loss this community suffered that tragic day,” Bryce Griffin, also of Newtown, wrote. “This mural honors those who lost their lives and should not be covered.”