Posted on 06/19/2021 11:14:33 AM PDT by L.A.Justice
ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – After parents and female students at Bartram Trail High School became outraged that yearbook photos deemed in violation of the student code of conduct had been edited without their knowledge, the St. Johns County School District said it is offering refunds to anyone calling about the issue.
Many of the photos of female students were digitally altered to make them appear more modest, but the students say it was unnecessary and unfair.
Riley O’Keefe is a freshman at Bartram Trail High School. She was surprised Wednesday when she got ahold of the yearbook and noticed something different about her photo.
“There’s a black box over my chest and the cardigan on the side is like moved over and it looks really awkward and I was very confused,” O’Keefe said.
Her photo was altered by the school’s yearbook committee and hers wasn’t the only obvious edit.
“I didn’t think I would’ve been censored. I thought it was only one or two girls,” sophomore Elizabeth McCurdy said. “So, I went to go look at my picture and I was appalled to see that I was censored.”
“I went through the whole day wearing that shirt and nobody had said anything to me,” said freshman Zoey Iannone.
In a statement to News4Jax on Thursday, the district said the school’s previous procedure was to exclude student pictures in the yearbook that they deemed in violation of the student code of conduct “so the digital alterations were a solution to make sure all students were included in the yearbook.”
Several photos showing what the yearbook portraits looked like before and after the digital alterations were shared with News4Jax. The photos were altered to cover parts of the students’ chest and shoulders.
The yearbooks, which cost $100 each, were released to students on Wednesday.
After the release, dozens of female students learned their photos were altered, some more subtle than others.
On Bartram Trail’s website, a disclaimer warns students their photos could be altered.
“All images in ads and all individual student pictures must be consistent with the St. Johns County School District Student Code of Conduct or may be digitally adjusted,” it reads.
O’Keefe said she honestly thought her outfit was not in violation of the policy as she was never approached about it and even had the outfit cleared by the office.
“It made me feel a little uncomfortable that that’s what they noticed when they looked at our pictures,” she said.
The school also came under fire in March after teen girls said they were taken out of class and sent to the dean’s office to change clothes or face suspension. The incidents sparked an online petition created by students calling for change, which had more than 4,000 signatures.
News4Jax found the number of recorded violations of the St. Johns County School District’s student dress code has skyrocketed during the 2020-21 school year, according to data provided by the district.
Across the district, 78% of dress code violations go to female students.
heck i won’t contact u ever again after this. Promise.
There wasn’t any cleavage in my 1960s yearbooks, but I went to a Catholic school and the girls (not the boys) wore uniforms. In grade school for a couple of years, we all wore uniforms. I think the uniform policy was implemented when I was in about the 6th grade, but I could be wrong.
Teaching them homosexuality and tranny crap is ok. But show a little skin and get banned for life.
We truly are at the bottom now.
Probably not...In the picture below, the third girl could be black...
By the way, whites composed 75.4% of this high school population...Blacks composed 5.1% of school population...The information is for the past school year...
https://edudata.fldoe.org/ReportCards/Schools.html?school=0411&district=55
Not many black students attend this Florida high school...
Nice photos...I think those ladies probably are middle-aged at this time...With their kids graduated from high school...
I do not think that any Catholic school goes that far at this time...School administrators do not want to deal with parents who complain...
By the way, some public high schools require students to wear uniforms...I guess that is a good idea...
This is my neck of the woods. Mostly newish build suburban area. I don’t have a problem with what was done. The sexualizing of teen girls is getting worse all the time. The school district superintendent did not cover himself with glory here with his CYA moves.
I don’t think there was any cleavage in my high school Yearbooks. Freshman through Junior photos didn’t go down that far. And while Senior photos did technically show that far down, there was a strict dress code. Wear proper attire or your photo got the axe. No apologies and we didn’t give refunds for yearbook orders.
My. Twelve pictures, twelve same hairstyles. What are the probabilites of a non-conforming hair style? Inquiring statisticians want to know? Talk about peer pressure.
It’s not just Muslims. There are conservative Christians (e.g. Mormons) that don’t like bared shoulders in this context either. What the first young lady is wearing is not considered modest dress in those circles.
I was thinking the same thing. Pity the poor girl in that class that had a flat or otherwise normal hairstyle. “What? Are you too poor to afford hairspray or something?”
Guess so; can’t cause embarrassment to others I suppose. I wonder if they avert their eyes when walking through shopping centers or other places.
I miss the 80’s. It was the only time my natural hair was in style.
Simple solution, starting next year this is the proscribed UNIFORM.
They actually went to the extreme of determining the ratio of clothing violations during the year between boys and girls. It turned out to be 75-25 GtoB. So, that was considered a violation of title 9.
Folks, we got to come to the realization this place is over. When crap like this becomes front page national news how much farther can we sink into the pit of irrelevancy.
“what the hell does this have to do with abortions or birth control??”
Really? You can’t understand?
Mormon is in no way, shape or form, Christian.
Ronniesgal is clearly not the sharpest knife in the drawer, nor the most temperate in language.
Since every girl there had the “I got a swirly in a lightning storm” hairdo I suspect the scratched out pics were defaced by the girls in the pics.
I agree with the alterations. High school female students should not want to portray themselves as sex objects.
Aloha snackbar! That shoulder is drive me crayzee!!!
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