Arizona High School Censors Yearbooks Using Duct Tape, Students Outraged

Students from a high school in Tucson, Arizona were initially excited to see their yearbook. After all, the yearbook costed each student of Sabino High School $75. However, their excitement quickly turned into anger and dismay after discovering that their school officials haphazardly censored their yearbooks using industrial duct tape.

According to a report by the Arizona Daily Independent, school officials of Sabino High School in Arizona hastily censored out segments of the yearbook which might be interpreted as “racist and unacceptable”. Most of the segments duct taped by school authorities were contributed by seniors from the Arizona school.

When the students tried to peel off some of the duct tape, the pages were erased or torn off, rendering the yearbook ruined. The students and their parents protested the questionable criteria by which the school officials censored the particular snippets in the yearbook.

Yearbook quotes as innocent as “Come getcha some,” a popular phrase taken from Animal Planet, were unceremoniously blocked out using duct tape. Other light-hearted quotes, such as “every Mexican needs a white best friend” written by one Latina student, was also covered by school officials.

While references to God and faith were not blotted out, some quotes, like “drunk on you and high on summer time,” earned pieces of duct tape. Some are arguing that this blatant disregard for freedom of speech violated some of the students’ rights.

The school’s superintendent, H.T Sanchez, did not give the exact criteria for censoring out some of the quotes. He also did not reveal what he deemed was acceptable enough for the school’s yearbook.

Students argued that the $75 they spent had been wasted on a yearbook riddled with hastily placed duct tape. Others opined that the students’ freedom of speech was violated when the school officials decided to cover some of the segments up. Board members of the school are also beginning to voice out their opinions regarding the matter.

One board member said:

“They paid $75 for a book and they put tape all over it. Nothing I have read warrants what they have done. I think the district should apologize or give the kids.”

Another board member, Mark Stegeman, said:

“The students got less than what they paid for, and they got it very late and missed the opportunity for inscriptions that is a big part of what makes the yearbook meaningful,”

Some believe that the yearbooks were delivered late because the officials decided to manually censor parts of the yearbook using duct tape.

[Image of Sabino High School yearbooks from Arizona Daily Independent via Daily Mail]