It’s that time again. Your children are graduating from high school and most likely setting off for new adventures in college. All of the their senior memories are captured and wrapped up in a book known as their yearbook.
Parents in Southern California are demanding an apology after their children were asked by their yearbook teacher to pose for disturbing photos. Beth Gonzales of Yucca Valley High School said her teacher gave the students an assignment that required them to bring in props for yearbook photos. The students couldn’t decide what to bring, so the teacher provided them the props that have parents hot under the collar. The photos were titled “teacher’s worst nightmare” and featured students holding plastic knives, guns, and even bombs.
At first Gonzales wasn’t concerned.”It’s plastic, a teacher’s giving it to us. I didn’t think it was anything wrong. If a teacher had it in her drawer, what’s so wrong with it?” But now she’s having second thoughts. She told CBS Local 2:
“How am I going to be looked at in the future?” says Gonzales, “Am I going to be that girl with the knife in the picture?”
Gonzales says she wasn’t happy with being labeled teacher’s worst nightmare and would have rather been class clown. Little did she know the real social media nightmare she would later be faced with.
“You’ve got a young black man with a gun, and a young Hispanic girl with a knife,” says Beth’s mother Corinna Gonzales, “What I saw was racial profiling.”
The Gonzales’ have numerous family members in the military. Beth is hoping to join the Navy.
“There were even some comments on there saying stuff about ISIS and that’s what the photo represents. I mean how is the military going to accept me if I represent ISIS?” Beth Gonzales asks.
The Gonzales family is not going to let go of this easily. Gonzalez’s mother, Corinna, said, “I’ve placed a call to the district. I’ve placed a call to the school. And do you think I’ve received any call back? No.”
The teacher said she meant no harm. The school has no plans to reprint or recall the yearbooks. School officials just want to move on saying, “We have talked to the advisor. There was no malicious intent by the advisor, the students, the administration, or the district to portray anybody in a negative manner. We apologize if it did.”
Is this wrong or not any big deal? Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member