Students Upset at Photoshopped Yearbook Pictures; School Apologizes for 'Inconsistency'
Students at Wasatch High School were upset to learn that their yearbook photos had been altered by the school in order to cover up what educators deemed was "too much skin." The school's superintendent has issued a statement apologizing, not for altering the photos, but for not being more consistent in selecting which photos were altered.
"I feel like they put names in a hat and pick and choose who," Rachel Russel told Fox News. "There were plenty of girls that were wearing thicker tank tops and half of them got edited and half of them didn't."
Educators claim that the students knew the dress code and had been warned that pictures may be edited if they failed to comply with the dress code. There was a sign posted telling students that their photos could be altered.
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"We only apologize in the sense that we want to be more consistent with what we're trying to do in that sense we can help kids better prepare for their future by knowing how to dress appropriately for things," Terry E. Shoemaker, the superintendent of schools for the Wasatch County School District told Fox News.
The students were not only upset at the alterations but at the fact that while one photo was altered, another with the same outfit would be untouched. It seemed unfair to the students, who said that the altercations seemed targeted toward the female students, not the male. However, the school has not discussed or addressed that accusation.
Many have defended the school's decision, though, saying that the superintendent only wanted to protect the students and help them along.
"Personally, I think that if the school wants to have this policy that is fine, but I think the students should be shown the images before they go to print and allow them to either accept, reject, and/or retake the photo. In the end, if you don't like the policy of the school when it comes to yearbooks, I think it is a good opportunity for a mature conversation, or if that doesn't work, either opt out, or create your own," Gawker reader CLM wrote.
