
YEARBOOK PHOTOS GIRLS WERE ALTERED HIDE CODE
Shirts “must be modest and not revealing or distracting,” the dress code states. O’Keefe’s mother, Stephanie Fabre, and stepmother, Taryn O’Keefe, said they planned to attend a school board meeting this week to call for changes to the dress code, which forbids girls to wear tops or shirts that do not cover “the entire shoulder” or from wearing shorts or skirts that are more than four inches above the knee. She said the school was offering refunds and “receiving feedback from parents/guardians/students on making this process better for next year.” “Bartram Trail High School’s previous procedure was to not include 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,” Ms. Augustine Record that a teacher who serves as the yearbook coordinator had made the edits. Johns County School District Student Code of Conduct or may be digitally adjusted.”Ĭhristina Langston, a district spokeswoman, told The St. School administrators and district officials did not respond to requests for comment on Saturday.īartram Trail, a public high school with about 2,500 students, says on its website that yearbook photos “must be consistent with the St. O’Keefe and parents who saw the yearbook. No pictures of male students, including one of the swim team in which the boys wore Speedo bathing suits, were digitally altered, according to Ms. O’Keefe said of the altered photos.Īt least 80 photos of female students were altered. “They need to recognize that it’s making girls feel ashamed of their bodies,” Ms.
YEARBOOK PHOTOS GIRLS WERE ALTERED HIDE SERIES
They said the altered photos were the latest in a series of crackdowns by administrators who have used an outdated dress code to police the way girls dress. Many students and parents are now demanding an apology. Other girls approached her and said the alterations made them feel sexualized and exposed. O’Keefe said she had been confused at first, then furious. Dozens of other students - all girls - had similar edits, many of them clumsy alterations that covered more of their chests. O’Keefe thumbed through the rest of the yearbook. “The dress code is clearly based on the sexualization of young women and their clothing, especially since many girls are told they are dressed inappropriately or that what they are wearing may be “distracting” to the boys.A black bar had been added to cover more of her chest, she said. “Many young women were even asked to unzip their jackets so that an administrator could check what they were wearing underneath, and if they did not comply, they were threatened with suspension. “This is ridiculous,” she wrote in the petition, which has so far been signed by 7,500 people. All because of the lengths of their shirts, skirts, or the thickness of their straps. In an online petition, started by O’Keefe in March, she said on one occasion “countless young women were taken out of their learning environment and sent to the dean’s office where they were forced to change. This isn’t the first time staff from Bartram Trail, a public high school with about 2,500 students, have had an issue with the clothing their female students have worn. Parents at Bartram Trail High School asking for apologies after seeing their children’s yearbook photos digitally altered – Action News Jax /3FvFHOC0Mw Many students and parents are now demanding an apology and for the yearbook to be reprinted with the unaltered photos.Īmerica: the 1950s are never far away. I was in dress code, and then, when I sent it to my mom and all of us saw it, I felt very sexualized, like that was what they were worrying about,” said Zoe Iannone, a 9th grader whose photo was altered to cover her chest.

“I felt confident that day and like I looked good.

Other students said they felt embarrassed, ashamed, and sexualized.

“I don’t want girls to feel like they don’t have a voice, especially girls who don’t feel comfortable coming and speaking about it,” she said. She said the altered image she saw of herself in the yearbook made her feel uncomfortable and later furious and she wanted to speak up on behalf of others. The 15-year-old says she wore the exact same outfit from her picture to the office, and they told her it was fine. You’re making them uncomfortable and feel like their bodies aren’t acceptable in a yearbook,” O’Keefe said, as per the New York Times. Several girls had their chests photoshopped while others had their shoulders covered. "Yearbook Photos of Girls Were Altered to Hide Their Chests" /alngFLB2oI God forbid we acknowledge that high school girls have breasts.
