WALL TOWNSHIP, NJ (News 12 NJ/CNN) - A school district has suspended a teacher after yearbook photos of two high school students were reportedly altered to remove President Donald Trump’s name on their clothing.
The district superintendent calls the allegations of yearbook censoring “troubling.”
“If the attire was altered in some way to silence that viewpoint, that is very problematic,” said Wall Township Superintendent Cheryl Dyer. “It’s certainly not something we would condone.”
The Wall Township School Board opened an investigation and suspended yearbook adviser and technology teacher Susan Parsons.
At least three students came forward with allegations of censorship.
Grant Berardo said his shirt was edited. Freshman Montana Debrovich-Fago said a Donald Trump quote she submitted to be used next to her photo was omitted and her brother Wyatt’s shirt was also cropped and altered.
“So, when you put all of these stories together, there’s definitely something going on,” Wyatt said in an interview with Fox News. “There’s a deliberate attempt to censor and to silence someone’’s freedom of speech.”
Dyer said the district encourages students to express their opinions in respectful dialogue. She said it was “unprecedented that someone would Photoshop a reference either to a political candidate at the time or the current president of the United States.”
Grant Berardo’s father said a meeting he had with the superintendent was encouraging. As for solutions, the district could issue new yearbooks, but that would be at taxpayers’ expense.
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