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Last year's Massaponax High School yearbook
Student 'confessions' will be edited out of Massaponax's yearbook. |
Reprinting the Massaponax High School yearbook to remove "inappropriate" content could cost tens of thousands of dollars, and Principal Joe Rodkey said yesterday he isn't sure where the money will come from.
"As far as funding, I won't know that until I get more information from the company [that printed the books]," Rodkey said.
It is funding that could be hard to find in the Spotsylvania County school system, which cut its budget by 6 percent and eliminated almost 160 positions this school year.
Rodkey said Tuesday he had halted distribution of the books and would have them reprinted to remove disturbing confessions and "quotable quotes" filled with sexual innuendos. The "confessions" were featured prominently on pages 4-7 and then scattered throughout the rest of the book, with something on nearly every page. They include:
"I worry all the time my ex-boyfriend will use the naked picture I sent him to ruin my life."
"I once did so much pot that I woke up high."
"I'm pregnant with my best friend's boyfriend's kid."
Some yearbooks were distributed at an after-school "signing party" Friday. Rodkey said yesterday he still wasn't sure how many books were in the hands of students.
Walsworth Publishing printed the yearbooks originally and will be doing the reprint. Rodkey didn't know yesterday how much the original press run cost, and officials from Walsworth did not return calls yesterday.
But full-color, 300-page yearbooks at three comparably sized Stafford County high schools cost between $60,000 and $65,000 for 850-1,200 copies. The Massaponax book was about 250 pages.
Rodkey sent an automated phone message Tuesday night to parents, telling them the yearbook wasn't what the community deserved and that it would be reprinted for distribution prior to the end of the school year on June 11.
The school system released a statement yesterday and said neither Rodkey nor other system officials would grant interviews. By yesterday afternoon, The Free Lance-Star's story about the yearbook was on several national news sites and Rodkey said several television reporters had left telephone messages.
"Yearbooks are considered an annual milestone that should reflect the positive accomplishments of a student's high school experience," read the statement, attributed to Superintendent Jerry Hill. "The students, school, and community have come to expect such a quality yearbook from Massaponax High School. It is most unfortunate that inappropriate comments found their way into the 2010 yearbook."
The statement also commended Rodkey for working quickly to recall the books that had been distributed and working with the publisher to provide a "revised yearbook that students and staff can be proud of."
Rodkey called the yearbook staff in for a meeting yesterday morning.
"I wanted them to hear from me, and give them a chance to talk to me," he said. "I want them to learn from this and understand how I feel about them. Notwithstanding what we're talking about, they did some good work."
A yearbook staff member said Rodkey told them he would hold fundraisers to pay to reprint the book.
In a letter to the editor sent to The Free Lance-Star, two yearbook staff members, Tanya McClure and Kelsi Jones, defended the book.
"In high school we are to learn about the real world, and the real world doesn't consist of lollipops and unicorns, it consists of real problems, real failures, and real triumphs," they wrote. "The point of this yearbook was not to highlight all the negative but to show that we all have secrets."
An editor of last year's Massaponax yearbook, Hillary Sherbert, wrote in an e-mail that this year's book "went a little too far," but disagreed with negative comments from a parent in a story yesterday about the 2009 book, which won a gold medal from Columbia University.
"The book was not called 'Scandalous,'" she wrote. "The book's theme was 'Layers.' Also, Rodkey gave us approval and said that we could print the page [of a woman's bare midriff].
"The other picture is not someone smoking cocaine because you do not smoke cocaine. It is a picture of a 'bowl' which marijuana is smoked out of."
Yearbook adviser Courtney McGonnel did not respond to an e-mail to her school account yesterday requesting an interview.
According to a Facebook page used to solicit the "confessions," the idea was inspired by a community art project called PostSecret, where people mail in their secret confessions on a post card. The cards are posted online or used in books and exhibits. Requirements are that the secret must be true and must never have been spoken before.
The yearbook staff members said the "anonymous secrets" were solicited over the morning announcements all year and that "no one ever said that was wrong."
The students said in their letter to the editor that they are disappointed in what people are saying is "wrong" with their yearbook, which they say is the "best yet."
"We can't even own an original copy of the yearbook that we spent all year making, even though I don't find it inappropriate, and our parents told us we could have an original one."
Laura L. Hutchison: 540/374-5485
Email: lhutchison@freelancestar.com
Yearbooks in Spotsylvania County Schools are considered an annual milestone that should reflect the positive accomplishments of a student's high school experience. The students, school, and community have come to expect such a quality yearbook from Massaponax High School. It is most unfortunate that inappropriate comments found their way into the 2010 yearbook for Massaponax High School. The principal, Joseph Rodkey, who has spent ten years building a great high school, acted quickly to recall any yearbooks distributed on Friday, May 14. Additionally, he has worked with the yearbook publishing company and a revised yearbook that students and staff can be proud of is being reprinted and distributed to students before June 11.
--Dr. Jerry W. Hill,
