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