Disappointed with DD's yearbook...

[Hollywoodhaha]

Doesn't get better in high school, where I was never in any photo except the usual yearbook pic..

 

[StephMK]

All 3 of my kids have always gone to schools that sell yearbooks. Ours is $15, I don't think I'd spend much more than that. I made my younger 2 share a book. Signatures aren't big around here so it was just for a keepsake. It's a softbound book & pretty good about including pics of lots of kids.

DD18 sent in pics of her & friends for senior dinner slide show - they were not included & she was pretty ticked. DH privately called it her Sue Heck moment. (The Middle)

 

[capegirl]

My 5 year old grandson came home with his year book today. That's right...a KINDERGARTEN yearbook! By the time my grandson graduates from high school, it will be a case of 'been there, done that' .

 

[wdwmom0f3]

My dd just finished her junior year of high school. She is a varsity tennis player. The yearbook included the team picture, but omitted the 2 page spread that is normally included for each athletic team. I guess it was done, but accidentally omitted during a revision.

The yearbook advisor did apologize profusely.

This happened this year at our high school. The cheerleaders and base ball team were left out. I don't believe for a minute it was a mistake.

This past year in my DDs MS yearbook, there was one girl on the yearbook staff who had twenty something pictures of herself in there. It's very noticeable and very rude. Why the head of the year book staff didn't do something about it is beyond me. This same girl is on the dance team and their pictures were cute. Our cheerleaders looked like crap in their pictures. It made a bunch of people mad, including me.

I almost wish we could get a preview of the yearbook before we buy it. I would not have bought his past one at all. Also our year books are done by school and start at K -2, 3 & 4, 5 & 6, 7 & 8, then HS. They are all hard backs too. I have a rather large collection of them.

 

[cornflake]

My 5 year old grandson came home with his year book today. That's right...a KINDERGARTEN yearbook! By the time my grandson graduates from high school, it will be a case of 'been there, done that' .

I've never heard of yearbooks for anything but h.s. but as described by some in the thread, I can kind of see it.

Like, the poster above you - if a kindergarten 'yearbook' was just a small paper deal with a bunch of candid pics of the kids and stuff and names, that seems kind of cute and a nice thing to have.

Lots of people have the posed class photo from every year and can point and go 'oh, I remember uhm... Bobby? Tim? Maybe his name was Tim...' it'd be nice to have a somewhat enhanced version.

Actual, hardbound yearbooks with all the stuff seems silly though, yeah.

 

[Ceila]

I went to elementary school in the 70's and we had yearbooks, so this isn't a new thing folks!

I wonder if it's a regional thing - that was MD, and we now live in NJ where the elementary schools also have yearbooks. Both mine and my kids' are thin paperbacks, not the hard-bound "official" yearbooks like in high school and college.

I'm sorry for your DD, I'm sure she was disappointed. It sounds like a mistake. I know that the yearbook committee parents around here put the candid picture pages together, but I'm wondering if the photographer who took the school pictures provides the pages of the individual pictures by class? If so, I would mention it to whomever in the school district contracts with that person to let them know that the photographer dropped the ball so they can ask him/her to be more careful next year.

 

[Mkrop]

1. Elementary school yearbooks are generally put together by parents who are given no resources or direction. Pictures come from the parents that volunteer in the classroom and pass along the photos. If you don't like the make up of the photos, I am sure the PTA or school would love someone to take on the job of coming to various events for the purpose of getting a good representation of kids!2. Did you sign the release that allows your child to be identified by photo and/or name in school publications and promotional material? If you didn't give the school to identify your child, then they were required to pull your child's photo from the book.

Sorry you were disappointed!

This is my first year as parent VOLUNTEER editor of our K-8 school YB. I have worked on the YB for years...I started bc I saw my kid was not in any pics in K and only 1 in 1st.

This job is a pain in the butt, we ask over and over again for pictures and nobody gives us any pics and they are the first to complain. Due to the complaints, we know ask a couple of moms to go into the classroom or recess yard, and get at least ONE picture of every child in the classroom. This has reduced a lot of complaints!

OP did you take any pictures and submit them? I know we will take them from anywhere, 1st day of school at the bus stop field trips etc.

And your other issue of being a Not Pictured, depending on when those pics were taken she may have missed it bc she came to the school late, there are certain pages in YB lingo that are called Portrait Pages. I can not add a candid shot of someone on that page, I can only use the pics provided by the people who took the pics. I had one child start late and two employees hired late and I could not add them to the page.

Oh, I know they are put together by the majority volunteer parents...I simply have to work & can't be at the school as much as some parents. I'm a member of the PTA, but can't be there during the day. I did sign the release, I have no problem with that....that's why she was in the pic at the bottom of the page, but she was not in the individual pics of the class. Kind of a bummer since she was a part of the class.

I just hate when you feel so bad for your kid & there is not a darn thing you can do about it. (except of course to feed them some lines about how things aren't so bad)

I am sick of this excuse...I hear it over and over again, I also hear it from those who have younger ones at home. BUT these are the same parents who are at some events, class parties etc, they just NEVER bother to bring a camera, we even ask people to take a pic at the bus stop, we call it a First Day of School page, and that seems to be beyond some people's ability. I mean that one could be faked...I am not going to know if you took that day or not, just take one

Good grief! A yearbook for elementary?. What a waste of resources! I havent looked at my high school yearbooks for over 40 years so I don't get the necessity of an elementary book. I know someone may hold onto them--but I bet not many people do. FWIW, I feel the same way about pre- school and kindergarten "graduation" with mini caps and gowns.
Who thinks up this stuff?

OP, I am sorry if your DD is upset about the lack of picture(s) of her in the yearbook.

Maybe you dont but at our school it is the hottest selling item, the kids love it so that is why I bust my butt to do it.

My DS14 is graduating 8th grade on Wed, his classmates have been enjoying seeing all the pictures from K-8.

Several of us who went to grade school together and now have 8th graders pullled out our YBs and were laughing our butts off at the pics and what we said what we wanted to do with our lives or that I was voted Best Dance It is 29 years since I graduated grade school.

 

[Minnesota!]

Yearbooks have always been offered around here - starting in K. For public and private schools. Our costs $26. It's not hard cover. It has a few pages for each grade - school pics, candid pics, then the class survey (fave movie, book, hot lunch, etc.). And then pages for the activiities through the year - science fair, Catholic Schools week, the camp the 6th graders go to, Biz Town, etc.). Then the 8th graders have a page of "guess whose baby pic this is" and there are a few pages for autographs. My kids love them, I loved them when I used to get them.

OP - sorry your child was omitted. that stinks!!

 

[violetrose]

All 3 of my kids have always gone to schools that sell yearbooks. Ours is $15, I don't think I'd spend much more than that. I made my younger 2 share a book. Signatures aren't big around here so it was just for a keepsake. It's a softbound book & pretty good about including pics of lots of kids.

Same here, all 3 of my kids had elementary school yearbooks. They were also $15, and just something fun for the kids to have, they enjoyed signing their friend's yearbooks and having their friends sing their yearbook. I can imagine at that age they would be upset if their picture was omitted. Sorry that happened to your daughter OP!

 

[SaraJayne]

This happened this year at our high school. The cheerleaders and base ball team were left out. I don't believe for a minute it was a mistake.

This past year in my DDs MS yearbook, there was one girl on the yearbook staff who had twenty something pictures of herself in there. It's very noticeable and very rude. Why the head of the year book staff didn't do something about it is beyond me. This same girl is on the dance team and their pictures were cute. Our cheerleaders looked like crap in their pictures. It made a bunch of people mad, including me.

I almost wish we could get a preview of the yearbook before we buy it. I would not have bought his past one at all. Also our year books are done by school and start at K -2, 3 & 4, 5 & 6, 7 & 8, then HS. They are all hard backs too. I have a rather large collection of them.

I was yearbook editor my senior year and our advisor had a rule. Every single person in the high school had to be in 5 different pictures, excluding the posed school photo. We kept a list and took pictures as needed. We knew at the end of the year, everyone would be included.

Yes, I went to a small high school (less than 250 students in 9-12).

 

[bushdianee]

The elementary school that I teach at just did our first yearbook this year. The teacher who leads the Student Council was in charge of it and the Student Council members put it together with her help. It was only $12. Parents weren't asked for any pictures, the teachers were. Each teacher has been provided with a digital camera that we are to use on field trips, class activities etc. The teacher in charge put out several requests for pictures but got very few. I take a lot so my class was well represented but she ended up getting most of the others from our Media specialist who always had her camera with her for school functions, assemblies etc. Each grade level had their own page of individual class photos and the 2 pages of candid shots. My students were happy to see pictures of their friends who had moved away during the year.

 

[jodifla]

I work on my child's school yearbook as one of the parent volunteers. It is full color, but a softback book that's about $15. It will be a nice keepsake when they are older.

On the class pages, we try to make sure everyone is on there at least 3 times. Once in their individual school picture, once in a class picture taken in the fun run, and once in a candid. I give proofs of each class page to the teacher to triple check, and I reshoot photos to make sure kids are included on the page if they are missing.

I agree with a PP; working is no excuse. You could arrange for one morning or lunch to be in there taking a few pictures of your daughter and her classmates.

My child wasn't included in the one yearbook I didn't work on, so I made sure to be part of the staff the other 4 times.

 

[Spinning]

If you don't like how the year books are done, then do something about it. At our school it is all volunteer. I did the elem. year book for years. I got involved because I didn't like how it was done. I feel every kid should be in the book somewhere. I came in to all school funtions. Even the parties that were not my kids or even their grade. Lucky for the school I am a total photo junky so to me this was the best job ever until.........something got mixed up or someone was missed. we had several mom's review our pages. Most were stupid mistakes spelling error. WE also had a teacher and our princ. to view the pages before printing.
Prior to being on yb my kids were in the book, a lot, why? Because I did what they said if you have pictures please send them to......I figured they would pick what they wanted and delete the rest. But once I took over the year book. I found out most parents never sent any photos in. And those parents complained the most.

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

I got year books every year K-12th. Back when I was in elementary school it was a black and white, paper, stable bound book that cost $15. My daughter's elementary yearbooks are the same but they are now printed in color.

Jr High yearbooks were small but hardbound and still black and white and cost $25. My daughter has made it to Jr High yet so I don't know what they look like now.

High school yearbooks were huge, hardbound and printed in part black and white and part color. If I remember correctly they cost $75 if purchased at the beginning of the year and went up in price as we got closer to the publication date.

 

[goofy4tink]

I was yearbook editor my senior year and our advisor had a rule. Every single person in the high school had to be in 5 different pictures, excluding the posed school photo. We kept a list and took pictures as needed. We knew at the end of the year, everyone would be included.

Yes, I went to a small high school (less than 250 students in 9-12).

What a truly nice idea!! I wish more yearbooks were like that. I know that our high school yearbook for this year (dd is graduating today) featured the same people, over and over again. And certain groups were pretty much ignored. And if your child just wasn't active in anything?? You can pretty much forget about seeing him/her in a candid. I guess that if kids aren't going to participate, then they shouldn't expect to show up a lot. But once would be nice!!

Our graduates will have an overnight party tonight. The parents have been decorating this morning. Each parent was sent home a request for certain things many months ago...baby photo/current photo, a senior collage..photos chronicling the students life, group shots. I was told that only about 50% of the students had baby/current photos submitted. So, I have to wonder how they will feel when they see other graduates photos on the wall?? And while there are many photos in the group collage, I know there are going to be some kids that are just not represented...their parents just didn't submit anything.

 

[Spinning]

Our graduates will have an overnight party tonight. The parents have been decorating this morning. Each parent was sent home a request for certain things many months ago...baby photo/current photo, a senior collage..photos chronicling the students life, group shots. I was told that only about 50% of the students had baby/current photos submitted. So, I have to wonder how they will feel when they see other graduates photos on the wall?? And while there are many photos in the group collage, I know there are going to be some kids that are just not represented...their parents just didn't submit anything.

And this is the problem! I haven't gotten to a Sr year yet. But I know with our 5th grade party we needed photos and parents didn't send them in. I was out trying to take "candid" of these kids and was making calls to get baby pictures. Many times it is not the people doing the work, it is the people not following through the requests for certain thing.

 

[goofy4tink]

And this is the problem! I haven't gotten to a Sr year yet. But I know with our 5th grade party we needed photos and parents didn't send them in. I was out trying to take "candid" of these kids and was making calls to get baby pictures. Many times it is not the people doing the work, it is the people not following through the requests for certain thing.

When we had our end of year Fine Arts banquet, we were all sent an email, requesting any student shots we may have. They wanted to put together a slide show....showing all the kids' hard work over the year. Well....this included the theatre kids, the band kids, the art kids...photo, sculpture, drawing, etc, orchestra. It seems that only the theatre parents take photos...well, them and the marching band kids parents. So, the vast majority of photos were of the theatrical productions and the kids performing or backstage, and the marching band kids at games and such. Welllllll, I overheard many 'comments' that night from parents complaining that their child wasn't up on the screen!!! Of course, they chose not to send anything in, or perhaps they just never felt the need to photograph their child playing the bassoon or oboe!!! Not sure what the problem was...but there were some unhappy parents.

 

[Tinijocaro]

Good grief! A yearbook for elementary?. What a waste of resources! I havent looked at my high school yearbooks for over 40 years so I don't get the necessity of an elementary book. I know someone may hold onto them--but I bet not many people do. FWIW, I feel the same way about pre- school and kindergarten "graduation" with mini caps and gowns.
Who thinks up this stuff?

OP, I am sorry if your DD is upset about the lack of picture(s) of her in the yearbook.

My kids elementary school has always done yearbooks, not hardcover, and I think it costs all of $7.00 per kid. PTA parents put it together. My kids LOVE looking back on friends the older they get. Kids change so much in just a couple short years. Not sure why an eyeroll would be needed here. We pull them out every now and then and have a good laugh. It's especially fun when there is a crush-the kids love to look back on what their crush looked like as a 1st grader.

 

[Maridw]

My DD's picture was left out of her high school yearbook for her Senior year! She was there for pictures so there was no reason for her not to be in it. She was there they took the Technology Academy picture but she was not notified it was being taken, so missed that one too.

I was so made when she came home with it. She was so upset. I called the school and the yearbook advisor said there was nothing they could do. I called the company that made the yearbook and they said she was on the 2nd cd they got with the pictures so were not sure why she wasn't in it either. They did send her some pictures that she could give to friends to put in their yearbook. There were 75 seniors "not pictured". There was at least that for each class.

I called the teacher back and said there was absolutely no reason that her picture should not have been in the yearbook considering that they did have her picture and that it was just poor editing and advising on her part. For there to be so many pictures not included was wrong.

I was very appreciative to the company, but I was not happy with the teacher or principal at her school.

 

[DeaverTex]

I completely agree that kindergarten and elementary yearbooks are a total waste of time and resources that could be better spent elsewhere. Jr High / Middle School yearbooks are pretty much the same, but YMMV. At least they may provide an activity for a few of the kids.

High School yearbooks I understand -- I got one my senior year and it's still around somewhere, I think -- but they're still just popularity contests, a lot like cheerleader elections and Homecoming Queen/King. The cool kids get lots of pictures, the uncool kids don't. I really like the idea of having a minimum picture count for each student/senior. The cool kids will still have more pictures, but nobody gets left out.

If asking parents for pictures to pad the yearbook is the main source of photographs, you're going to have kids left out. Not all people are camera junkies. When parents don't provide pictures, it doesn't necessarily mean they just didn't bother to send them. They may not have any. We very rarely take pictures, for instance. I know that I've always figured that the folks who were there don't need pictures, and the folks who weren't there aren't really interested.