In New Jersey a student's Trump shirt was edited out for a yearbook photo. As a result, the NJ high school teacher who was in charge of the yearbook has been suspended.
Cheryl Dyer is the superintendent of the school district. She declined to name the teacher, but said she will be suspended "pending further disciplinary action" from the school board.
Susan Parsons is listed as the yearbook adviser on the high school's website. Per public records, she had a salary of $87,950 in 2016.
Per APP:
"I don't have definitive answers to all of my questions yet, but I knew enough at this point to get board approval to take that action," Dyer said.
Dyer declined to identify what disciplinary action could be taken. Termination would require the board to file tenure charges against her.
According to her LinkedIn page, Parsons has worked in the district for 15 years.
On her yearbook class's website within the district homepage, Parsons includes "photo editing" as one of the "real world skills" that students learn during yearbook production.
She did not return a call to her home seeking comment. In an interview with the New York Post, she said “we have never made any action against any political party.
But when asked if she knew who altered the photos, Parsons simply said, “I’m going to hang up.”
There were three different reports of censorship in this yearbook. Not surprisingly all three of them included President Trump. The reaction of the parents of these students varied. One of them wants whoever made this change to be held accountable.
Joseph Berarded, Grant's father, is not happy about what went down.
“From my perspective, I don’t understand the censorship,” Joseph Beradedo said. “I think it was probably politically motivated. It was inherently offensive to somebody and they made a decision to Photoshop it – and without discussion, which is the worst part."
“What are you doing? Don’t you go to school to debate this stuff – at the collegiate level, at the high school level,” Berardo asked. “What’s frustrating to me is that this was the first election he took interest in, but what message did the school send?”
It will be very interesting to see how this plays out and if any more punishment will be issued.
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