Students outraged after yearbook pages ripped out due to 'inappropriate' comments referencing Hitler, drug use
For many students, high school yearbooks are a way to treasure precious memories from a formative time in their lives with candid photos, class portraits and quotes.
That’s why when students at Sumner High School in Washington received their yearbooks, many of them were outraged to find that entire pages were crudely cut out due to “inappropriate” senior comments.
“They decided to take a box cutter or a knife and not even delicately cut out the pages," Sumner High School student Amanda Fullmer told KOMO News. “This is going to fall apart in three days. It’s already falling apart and we got it yesterday.”
Before they move onto the next chapter of their lives, it’s a tradition for Sumner High School seniors to submit quotes from themselves or others to be included next to their photo in the Spartan yearbook.
However, according to a statement from the Sumner-Bonney Lake School District, “in an unfortunate oversight during the editing process, inappropriate quotes from some seniors inadvertently made it into the yearbook.”
A Facebook user posted photos of the omitted senior quotes that she had received from a Sumner High School parent who received an untouched yearbook. The parent requested to remain anonymous to protect her privacy. The excerpts referenced marijuana use, quoted Adolf Hitler and made lewd comments that were sexual in nature.
“I don’t go to high school, I go to school high,” read one of the senior quotes.
Another quote read, “She says she’s vegetarian but she still likes red meat”
Thousands of the Spartan Class of 2019 yearbooks had already been printed by the time a few concerned parents complained about the offensive and inappropriate comments. Once administrators “recognized the improprieties,” they “took action to find a solution” by removing the entire senior section out of the yearbook.
“We very much apologize for any content that is insensitive or offensive in any way,” reads the statement obtained by Yahoo Lifestyle. “We will remove the pages from the senior section of the yearbook and replace it with an insert without quotes. To ensure this doesn’t happen in the future, we will be reviewing our editing procedures and implementing a new process.”
Beyond paying a hefty $60 for damaged yearbooks, disgruntled Sumner High School students believe the entire fiasco could have been avoided in the first place. “I mean you had eight months to basically work on the yearbook, and you had time to look over the quotes people had chosen, student Don Marcos Rodriguez told KOMO News.
Meanwhile, other students say that when the school administration removed the senior pages, they were also ripping away their precious memories and their legacy.
“It’s just a disgrace,” Fullmer said. “If this problem isn’t addressed now, when I become a senior, senior quotes aren’t going to be a thing because of a mishap that was not the students' fault and it wasn’t the parents’ fault either.”
Fullmer added, “This isn’t the legacy that our school wants to leave but this is the legacy that they’re leaving.”
Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:
• Student sneaks Hitler quote into yearbook and the school community is furious
• High school yearbook recalled after Confederate flag photo is spotted on cover
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