<p>Tacking onto Cur’s suggestion…our hs does the traditional paper volume yearbook and a video yearbook…perhaps your D’s can jumpstart some kids into creating a video yearbook? take movies, snaps etc and put them together with music onto a DVD? could be a lot of fun during the rest of the year… just a thought…</p>
<p>
You are <em>very</em> perceptive! Actually, I spoke on the phone at some length with Randy after that op ed piece came out, and I told him that it would have been a more balanced article if he had consulted ANYONE on the other side of the issue. He admitted that he had not. In addition, he very much “cherry picked” the teen pregnancy article and pulled out the couple of things that weren’t GLOWING, giving NO press to the other VERY glorifying stuff. I actually asked him if <em>anyone</em> had explained to him why these things were in the academic section and NO mention of academics was anywhere in the book—he said that he had talked with the student journalists about that and that their excuse was that they “didn’t know who the academic kids were or what they had done.” Methinks Ms. Journalism instructor did NOT do her job. Isn’t it part of the job of journalist to SEEK OUT pertinent info.? Even Randy admitted that this was a SERIOUS lapse (at least on the phone with me). </p>
<p>OH, and…well, not sure if his article mentioned this, but our journalism instructor is a FORMER EAGLE EMPLOYEE!!!. Yep, there’s an objective viewpoint for ya! The tv stations did a much better job of presenting both sides. ~berurah</p>
<p>
That sounds like satire to me - at least with the juxtaposition of that content with the section title. Maybe the students who put together the yearbook are attempting to make a statement as to their view of the quality of the school?</p>
<p>
I only <em>wish</em> they were clever enough to DO that. With this particular group of kids, no. This is a lack of guidance, pure and simple, and NO ONE was minding the store. ~berurah</p>
<p>From the newpaper articles it looks like the issue is the 2006 yearbook (for last year). I don’t see how you can do much about a yearbook that has already been published.</p>
<p>It isn’t going to be “edgy” or different if they repeat the same thing this year. </p>
<p>If you are really concerned about student memories, wouldn’t it make more sense to focus on making sure that the 2006-2007 yearbook has the content that the current students want to see? I’d think a student petition or some input as to who is on the yearbook staff would be appropriate. I wonder… is part of the problem that the yearbook is being done by less academically inclined students because the college-bound students are too busy with other EC’s and AP classes? Maybe last year’s yearbook reflected the worldview of the kids who were doing the job of putting it together, who might feel very disconnected from the world of the kids who make NHS and get the academic accolades.</p>
<p>
Yes. Exactly.</p>
<p>The group I was working with and I are looking at the yearbook issue in broader terms. Of course we can’t “unpublish” last year’s book, BUT…we <em>DO</em> think that last year’s book makes BOLD statements about our district’s emphases and about how our district treats its brightest and most motivated kids (e.g., terming them “nerds” and saying all that they are good for is cheating off of). The battle is for FUTURE yearbooks (and for journalistic guidance that is encouraged within the KSPA statute), and we’ve let the yearbook staff know in no uncertain terms that MANY of us were displeased.</p>
<p>~berurah</p>
<p>Yes, but do you see what I’m saying? If the work of yearbook assembly is being done by kids who feel disconnected, then they probably feel resentful. They aren’t being paid to do the work, and maybe they don’t feel motivated to assemble a book lauding the accomplishments of others. They are real human beings who may be having a rough time in high school. The ones who are motivated to see lots of pictures of student clubs, honors, activities, etc. are the ones who participate in those sorts of things. If somehow or other your high school is structured so that the yearbook staff ends up being the disconnected/disenchanted students, then the book you want isn’t going to reflect their lives or memories. So why should they produce something to please the students whose world they can’t penetrate or share? </p>
<p>I don’t know about your school situation, but I know that at many large urban high schools there are often some very different worlds co-existing, sometimes divided rather starkly along ethnic lines as well. You may have a situation where the students who perceive themselves as the underclass are being asked to put their efforts into paying homage to the elite… and last year’s group rebelled… and maybe went one step further by calling things as they saw it. </p>
<p>I think Curmudgeon is right: if you want the high school annual that will have the memories that are important to your kids, then your kids (or their peers) will have to produce it – either via an alternate publication or by joining the yearbook staff. </p>
<p>There is a message in last year’s book, whether you like it or not. It seems to me that a call for censorship is something of an attempt to sweep an ugly reality under the rug.</p>
<p>Berurah: as an FYI, here is Randy’s e-mail response to my message earlier this evening:</p>
<p>I did take a look at the yearbook and at a previous year’s yearbook before
writing the column. I think the students had a serious journalistic purpose
in mind when they wrote the stories, and as a journalist I think that’s
commendable and good training. So I don’t think it was frivolous. That
said, I agree that there’s room for disagreement about the role of a
yearbook – were some student accomplishments overlooked? What are parents
expectations for the book? Students? I think this is a good discussion to
have. Maybe there is a way to balance these concerns. Thanks for the
feedback. --Randy</p>
<hr>
<p>So, now he admits there is, in fact, “room for disagreement about the role of a yearbook”. Wonder if he’d be willing to write a follow-up piece to that effect? Or if it would do any good?</p>
<p>Also, I think Calmom might have a very good point about the yearbook staff feeling a bit disenfranchised and just portraying what they perceive as the most meaningful parts of their school experience. Something for the school administration to address, I should think.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>…simply because as students of <em>JOURNALISM</em>, they have that as part of their job description. That’s EXACTLY WHY I think the role of the journalism sponsor was not fulfilled very well. I was not then and am not now saying that anyone should have been left out of the yearbook. To the contrary, I think EVERYONE should have been included—yes, even those who excel academcially. If they wished to promote their own agenda, those students did not belong on a yearbook staff that was given school resources and sponsor and parent money to produce a product for the ENTIRE STUDENT BODY, not just the “disenfranchised.” Their personal views/attitudes/biases <em>should have been</em> irrelevant to their job as yearbook journalist. Also, it is widely known that the yearbook contained what it did in an effort to win journalism awards, not to make a political statement, though I have no proof of that.</p>
<p>~berurah</p>
<p>It could be both, Berurah – they had a statement they wanted to make, and they also hoped to get awards for their artistic vision in making the statement. </p>
<p>I think this is what the first amendment is all about. And good journalism can also often about furthering an agenda or a point of view. The problem isn’t that you want a yearbook that reflects good “journalism” - the problem is that you want a yearbook that is good p.r. </p>
<p>Those students don’t have a “job description” – they are not employees of the school. They are there to learn and get an education. Since it appears that I may be on target with my comments, it seems to me that the kids may have done a lot more of educational and artistic value than they would have slapping together the typical set of club and activity photos.</p>
<p>Calmom, you’ve made a series of good points. I have to admit I’ve never really thought much about the point or purpose of a yearbook (other than to have a bound volume where the kid’s friends can write trite, scandalous, and/or wist ful comments at the end of the year.) And I think Curmudgeon has made a good point as well. Given the state of picture and text reproduction and storage technology, maybe this is the time to question whether one “official” yearbook is an anachronism. Maybe the pictures should be made available to the students in digital form, and they can make up their own yearbooks featuring whatever they feel is significant. It would certainly make an interesting and educational senior project; students could collaborate or go solo as they choose. One group may feel the pregnant students should be the focus, another the honor students, another the athletes, etc. I’m not sure that mandating that the yearbook should have one particular focus or another is the right thing to do to/for these students at that particular juncture of their lives.</p>
<p>
I would thoroughly agree with this. Thing is, the yearbook is not an editorial publication, or, IMHO, SHOULDN’T be one.</p>
<p>
I actually want a yearbook that doesn’t deliberately exclude those who have committed the most time, effort and energy to school sanctioned events in favor of those who have committed the least. It’s really as simple as that. And yes, I <em>WOULD</em> like to see good journalistic efforts. </p>
<p>Putting displays featuring teen pregnancy, caffeine addiction, and tacit approval of cheating in an ACADEMIC section is, pardon my French, PI** POOR journalism, plain and simple. Also, I was wondering tonight–if it is, for whatever reason, acceptable to refer to the academically high functioning kids as “nerds,” how would the “disenfranchised” kids have felt if the book had been put together by academic achievers who had chosen to highlight the section on teen pregnancy with a student quote declaring them “High School Ho’s”??? Respect goes BOTH ways. </p>
<p>
I would wholeheartedly disagree with this statement. Those students do, indeed, have a job description. THEY are the ones who want to be perceived as serious journalists and not merely students. Their task was to create a “memory book” for ALL of the student body, not just a part of it. Just as poor performance in a classroom can earn you a less than stellar grade, poor performance in creating as yearbook can garner you well-deserved criticism. There are many freedoms afforded those who are members of the press. And there are many commensurate responsibilities. THAT was the part of the lesson that was missing, and it is a good one for the students to learn SOONER rather than later. They are free to say whatever they want in the yearbook…and the two hunded students and parents who have signed our petition thus far are also free to express their disapproval.</p>
<p>~berurah</p>
<p>That’s fine – I have nothing against the idea of a petition in protest. It is the desire to change the law to achieve censorship that bothers me. </p>
<p>I am also really bothered by the idea that one group of disenfranchised students is supposed to have the “job” of preparing the memory book for the high achieving students who are too busy to do that job themselves. I wonder how the high achievers treat the kids in the yearbook class(?) </p>
<p>Maybe the parents should get together and commission an outside company to produce the memory book. Obviously the kids in the yearbook class are carrying a very different set of memories when they leave high school.</p>
<p>churchmusicmom~</p>
<p>Thank you for posting Randy’s response to you. I am <em>MOST</em> impressed that you took the time to write him! 
</p>
<p>I think that BEFORE Randy wrote the article, he did indeed look at the layouts on teen pregnancy and tattoos and piercings. I do NOT think, though, that he read the accompanying text, at least based on the phone conversation I had with him. At that time, NONE of us had read the book that thoroughly. </p>
<p>IMHO Randy fired off a column in defense of a former colleague. That is the ONLY reason I can think of that he didn’t talk to ANYONE from our side of the issue. His perogative to be sure, in an op ed column, but a poor choice nonetheless. All of the other media outlets have consulted and presented BOTH sides of the situation.</p>
<p>I think that part of the reason that this issue has created THIS much controversy in our town is due to the fact that our town has always and continues to market itself as a mecca for those seeking high educational achievement. That is why <em>we</em> bought here many years ago. The developers and realtors in this town market almost exclusively on the basis of our “top notch” school system, which being in a small bedroom community, theoretically avoids all of the “big city” problems. Now, here comes this yearbook that shoves much of our more <em>ahem</em> maladaptive stuff under people’s noses. And the school district has felt it necessary to back this without even ONE comment saying that the yearbook doesn’t necessarily present its views and attitudes. </p>
<p>I’ve been told in private that the negative press has caused TREMENDOUS pressure to be brought to bear, presumably by city councilmen, developers, realtors and the like, to get this thing under control. I have also been all but assured, again in private, that next year’s yearbook will NOT be a repeat of this one. We shall see, I guess. So, though we didn’t win in the court of public opinion, I do believe that we have been heard, and loudly, by the people with the power. And that may be, after all, the most lasting lesson these kids learn…not one about free speech or journalism, but rather one about economics and politics: namely, that if you PI$$ off the powers-that-be in your small town and mess with their potential source of revenue, you may have lost more than you EVER thought you gained.</p>
<p>~berurah</p>
<p>
People work for changes in laws all the time. Look, our school district is claiming that it is the KSPA <em>alone</em> that is preventing it from having ANY input into the yearbook. I’ve read the KSPA, and it does not prohibit but rather encourages sponsor involvement and guidance. So, to me, they only scenario the school district has presented for change in the yearbook is change in that law. <em>IF</em> ANYONE in the school district admin had stepped up and said, “OH MY!!! We didn’t realize that the academic kids were COMPLETELY excluded, <a href=“and%20ALL%20school%20sanctioned%20groups/clubs/sports%20were%20given%20short%20shrift%20too”>and btw, <em>MY</em> uber-academic kid is OUT of the school, so this is NOT on behalf of MY OWN KIDS</a>. We’ll start a dialog with the journalism teacher,” I would NEVER have given a thought to seeing what I could do to change or get rid of the KSPA.</p>
<p>BTW, what do you think of the 1988 Hazelwood decision?</p>
<p>I just thought that I’d tell you a couple of interesting things. One of my oldest D’s best friends is a delightful girl who happens to have four tattoos. Despite the fact that some of our issues are with the tattoo and piercing layout (mostly with the text on the page which encourages some illegal and risky behaviors), this girl ENTHUSIASTICALLY signed the petition <em>and</em> has asked for TWO more petitions to take around and fill with signatures. In addition, one of the girls whose pic was FEATURED in the layout ALSO signed! Yesterday, I was contacted by one partner of a married lesbian couple who not only signed the petition, but who came with her partner to the board meeting to support our speeches. So, you see, this issue is not drawn and cut along the lines that you may think! :)</p>
<p>Incidentally, my D’s friend who has the tattoos was treated <strong><em>SO</em></strong> disrespectfully at the board meeting by members of the “journalists’ group,” namely one of the teen moms and HER mom. The girl was sitting behind my D’s friend, and she looked down and saw the tattoo on C’s neck and yelled out, “WHAT ARE <em>YOU</em> DOING WITH <em>THEM</em> [meaning our group]??? <em>YOU</em> HAVE A <em>TATTOO!!!</em>” When C tried to defend herself, the teen mom’s mom shushed her, waved her hand in C’s face, and said, “TURN AROUND!”</p>
<p>And that was just ONE of the many disrespectful behaviors shown by those on that side of the issue…<em>sigh</em></p>
<p>~berurah</p>