Utah School Alters Yearbook Photos, Many Students Outraged

One Utah high school has quite a few angry students after yearbook photos were revealed to have been retouched without their consent. Wasatch High School in Heber City, Utah is under fire after it altered images of certain students to show less skin in their yearbook photos.

According to The Salt Lake Tribune, a group of female high school students in Wasatch County said that their school took modesty standards “way” too far when their yearbook photos were digitally altered to cover up skin. Several girls at the high school opened up their your books this week to find sleeves and higher necklines drawn on to their photos and in many cases the photo alterations seemed “haphazardly done.”

Sophomore Kimberly Montoya told The Salt Lake Tribune she was “shocked” when she found her photo altered. Another sophomore student by the name of Shelby Baum was distraught after finding out her tattoo had been covered by a poorly drawn neckline which was added to her V-neck t-shirt. Why was she so upset? Because her tattoo was sentimental for her and she reportedly claimed that it reminded her of the journey of a difficult time during her childhood. The tattoo reads: “I am enough the way I am.”

“My tattoo was a huge thing in my life,” Baum said choking back tears. “I’ve come a long ways. My tattoo means a lot. It reminds me I am enough. For them to cover that up? They should inform me first. They never said anything to me.”

According to The Washington Post, the girls believe that the yearbook alterations were intended to humiliate them but school officials say differently. Terry E. Shoemaker told the Los Angeles Times that students knew there was a dress code and there was a sign warning them that their pictures may be altered.

According to The Salt Lake Tribune, the girls believe that the edits did not match up with the schools dress code and were not uniform overall. The report continued on to say that the photos weren’t altered consistently. Baum and Montoya claim that some girls had sleeves added to their outfits while others wore tank tops that remained untouched.

“We only apologize in the sense that we want to be more consistent with what we’re trying to do in that sense we can help kids better prepare for their future by knowing how to dress appropriate for things,” said Shoemaker.

In a video report by ABC News, the school has said that they are not sorry for altering the yearbook photos and that the practice is now becoming a standard practice throughout the industry.

What do you think of the high school that altered student’s yearbook photos without the consent of the students or their family? Do you believe this is a proper practice?

[Image via Shutterstock/FoxPictures]