A New Jersey high school will have to reprint their yearbooks for all their students after a student’s Trump shirt was edited out of his yearbook photo.
Grant Berado, a 17-year-old student at Wall Township High School wore a Donald Trump T-shirt with the “TRUMP: Make America Great Again” slogan for picture day. When he received his yearbook he noticed the Trump message was removed from the photo.
The school district was alerted to the photo last week and the story quickly gained national attention.
Superintendent Cheryl Dyer announced the decision to reprint the yearbooks in a letter that was sent to parents on Thursday.
“I cannot allow the intentional change that was not based on dress code to be ignored,” Dyer wrote. “I am the Chief School Administrator in this district, and I take responsibility for the actions of those who are employed here. Therefore, I have determined that a re-issuance of the yearbook is necessary,” she added.
On Monday the school district suspended yearbook advisor Susan Parsons indefinitely as they continue to investigate why the photos were altered.
Berado’s father, Joe Berado Jr. told the Daily News that he views the yearbook edit as a “freedom of speech violation” would have taken legal action if there wasn’t a plan to reprint the yearbooks. He told the Daily News he hopes this incident serves as a learning experience for anyone involved.
Berado’s photo wasn’t the only photo that was changed.
Another student wore a “Trump” sweater vest in the original photo, but the yearbook version had the president’s name cropped out. According to Dyer, that particular edit did not appear to be intentional.
The @WallHSKnights liberal yearbook squad cropped my photo to not let my TRUMP logo show!!! #maga #Lawsuite #TRUTH pic.twitter.com/eJOmf48rIk
— Wyatt4ClassPresident (@Wyatt4Prez) June 9, 2017
