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Yearbook 'confessions' prompt Va. principal to demand reprinting

May 26, 2010

VIRGINIA -- The principal of Massaponax High School in Fredericksburg is ordering that all 2009-2010 yearbooks be reprinted before the school year concludes after anonymous 'confessions' that mentioned sexual behavior and drug use were published in the book.

Principal Joe Rodkey has stopped distribution of all yearbooks and is resolved to reprint them without the "offensive" material by June 11, according to a statement released by the school district.

The yearbook, titled "Glances 2010, Truth Be Told," contains multiple pages with students' secrets solicited by the yearbook staff through a Facebook page created in August 2009 called "Massaponax Yearbook." Through this page, students were asked to anonymously submit their secrets. The page also encouraged students to pick up fliers around the school soliciting confessions.

The yearbook pages contain anonymous statements from students that say things such as: "I have sex with people just to feel wanted" and "I once did so much pot that I woke up high."

Through these confessions, the yearbook staff intended to show that despite their differences, everyone has secrets, said Tanya McClure, a yearbook staff member.

"We're showing what high school is actually about, how people feel, struggles people go through," McClure said. "We weren't trying to focus on the negative things. Massaponax is a great school, but it has its problems just like any other school."

According to a statement, the school district is of the opinion that yearbooks should "reflect the positive accomplishments of a student's high school experience," and that this yearbook did not accomplish that.

"The students, school, and community have come to expect such a quality yearbook from Massaponax High School," Superintendent Dr. Jerry Hill said in the statement. "It is most unfortunate that inappropriate comments found their way into the 2010 yearbook."

Both Rodkey and Hill declined to comment for this story.

The yearbook theme, as well as the concept of the anonymous confessions, has been well known throughout the school since the beginning of the school year. Because of this, McClure said the yearbook staff did not anticipate any resistance from the administration.

"I really think the beginning of the year when we introduced the theme and talked about the confessions would have been the perfect time for someone to tell us 'no,' " McClure said. "But no one gave us any restrictions. This was what the students wanted to print, and no one made them submit these things. It was a really supported idea throughout the school. We thought what we were doing was right, and I still think it's right."

McClure said the yearbook staff kept Rodkey updated on the progress of the book -- including the confessions -- throughout the year, but he did not read any content until after printing.

After his discovery of the content of the confessions, Rodkey called members of the yearbook staff out of class into a mandatory meeting with himself and the yearbook adviser, Courtney McGonnell, during which he explained his concerns with the yearbook.

While some yearbooks have already been distributed at an after-school signing party, McClure said Rodkey is working to find out how many were distributed and to whom they were given so that he can contact them, apologize and send a new book.

According to a May 20 story in Fredericksburg's The Free Lance-Star, reprinting the books without the confessions could cost tens of thousands of dollars.

By Sommer Ingram, SPLC staff writer

© 2010 Student Press Law Center
 
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