06-27-2008, 10:00 PM
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Quote:
COVINA - High school yearbooks celebrate achievement, mark the passing of a year, and in photos, captions and scribbled signatures, capture a time.
But for the nine students of Charter Oak High School's Black Student Union, this year's book might better be left on the shelf.
A yearbook staff student replaced each of their names with fake names - such as "Tay Tay Shaniqua," "Crisphy Nanos" and "Laquan White" - next to the club photo in the school's 2008 Chronicle, according to Superintendent Clint Harwick.
"Someone was just trying to be funny but it's not funny," said Jordan Smith, a BSU member. "It's upsetting. It's a mistake that should not have been overlooked."
School Board President Joseph M. Probst said Wednesday that "appropriate actions will be taken."
Probst said he did not know the gender or race of the student who changed the names, but he did know the student will be a senior next year.
"We are discussing the intent and impact of the student's actions," Harwick said Wednesday. "The first step was to remedy the issue."
The students whose names were changed were given stickers with the correct names to be placed over the error in their books.
"What else can you do?" asked Probst. "It would be nice to snap a magic finger, but I think it was incredibly well done."
Smith, a senior, said she wants the yearbooks recalled and reprinted.
Some BSU students and their parents are dismayed by the way the school handled the incident and expect a formal apology from the school.
"I am sure the students will be spoken to and given an apology if they haven't been already," said Probst, who called the incident "atrocious."
BSU student Evanne Jackson, a junior, said she was given a handful of stickers and told to pass them out to her friends on the last day of school.
"How humiliating," said Evanne's mother, Toi. "The school is responsible, and they ask the victim to pass out the stickers."
School officials said that because the error was discovered after the yearbooks were handed out, there were limited ways to correct the problem.
"We remedied the issue by putting in the correct information," said Harwick. "In this case, we used a common practice with the stickers."
Harwick said there were a number of human and printing errors throughout the yearbook, including misspellings and blank pages.
But BSU students like Paisley Moore, said the corrective sticker is not enough.
"I kind of laughed at it," said Moore. "Show that you are sincerely apologetic. I don't think they realize what happened here."
Repeated calls to the yearbook staff office went unanswered Tuesday. Calls to yearbook advisor Bonnie Shockey were not immediately returned.
School officials are not aware of any previous similar incidents.
Past editions of the yearbook have received awards from the University of Columbia Scholastic Press with gold and silver medals in 2006 and 2007, respectively, according to school staff.
Of the 2,000 students who attend Charter Oak High School about 45 percent are Latino; 30 percent white and 4.5 percent black, according to school officials.
"We have a wonderful diversity on our campus which makes a richer educational experience," said Harwick.
But Moore said she is not surprised something like this happened.
"People of color, Latinos and African Americans, are viewed at the school as a joke," she said.
The affected picture appears in the back of the book and shares a page with other group photos including Class Councils, North American Unity and Asian Unity.
"This has hit us pretty hard," said Principal Kathleen Wiard. "We take great pride in producing a great yearbook with positive, good memories."
The BSU students' families, however, aren't so sure this yearbook is something they'll want to remember.
"A yearbook is very significant and something you always hold on to," said Toi. "When she shows it to her kids she will have to explain why she has the name Crisphy."
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I feel horrible for laughing.
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