HS yearbook VENT

[Kimmumum]

My DS#1 is a freshman. Yearbooks came out on Friday. I didn't see it until yesterday because DS didn't think it was important to bring it home. Now I know why. All weekend he was getting texts asking why his picture was not in the yearbook. Mind you, he is also a 2 sport athlete. NOT ONE picture in the whole thing. One issue is that they apparently put the spring freshman sports in the next years yearbook. However, he was in a fall sport too. The whole team picture is missing????

Then we come to his individual picture. Let me start by saying there is a boy with the same last name and the same first initial. When we went in August to get pictures taken there was a mix up in the cards you had to give to the photographer. The other kid got there first and didn't notice the problem. When we noticed it they said they would fix it. I went straight to the registrars office. She basically thought I was a crazy person. I told her that in the past other schools have mixed up the 2 boys schedules, their report cards etc. I wanted to make sure this wouldn't happen at the HS too. She told me that that was all human error and wouldn't happen "here". She told me there was no way that it could happen.

Now, 8 months later, it DID get mixed up. I'm not mad at the yearbook staff as I'm sure it was a mistake. I'm just furious at the lady who thought I was a nut case who didn't know what she was talking about. I'm glad that this didn't happen his senior year.

I went up to the school today to talk to someone but no one knows exactly who it should be. Anyway, the registrar is out today (I didn't want to talk to her anyway) and the VP that we think I should talk to is out today. She will call me in the morning.

There is nothing that can/will be done for this year. I can only hope that we get this straightened out so the rest of the HS days can be documented.

Thanks for listening........

 

[swald91]

I'd be pretty mad myself. I would tell them you want your money back especially since this issue was addressed months ago! My daughter is in 7th grade & we ordered a year book-$50 plus!! She had her picture re-done & I hope that it makes it in -we were told it would, but if it isn't I will go to the school & tell them I ordered the book b/c of her-I just don't have $$ to throw away on pictures of other students-If I didn't want to see my daughters picture, I wouldn't have ordered the book! Good luck!

 

[missypie]

I would be angry, too.

Yearbooks cause such problems. Have you heard about the girl in Florida, I think it was, who wore a dress for some seated group picture, but no underwear, and you can see up her dress? She hasn't been to school since.

Then there are the picture placeholders - the bad one around here a few years ago was "black girl" - that don't get removed. (My huband's brother's yearbook staff described some girl as "Sow of the Year" and it got printed - it's a wonder they weren't all expelled.)

Last year in our yearbook, the dark skinned African American kids came out looking like only eyes and smiles - like some racist cartoon from the 30s....I don't know if that was the fault of the photographer or the printer.

In your yearbook, does each page have a name on it? At our schools, each staff member is responsible for certain pages, and they have to have their names in tiny print on their pages. You might want to just mention to the student in charge of the page that it was hurtful that your son was left out.

 

[HeWhoMustNotBeNamed]

That would be most frustrating... I agree.

 

[mamacatnv]

last year my friend paid $350 for her son's Senior page.......they misspelled his last name that was at the top!

in DS's senior yearbook (same as above) his name was spelled a couple of different ways throughout the book. Guess we are lucky his $350 page was spelled correctly.

Yearbooks are tough, especially in large schools and school photographers deal with countless kids of the same name on a daily basis.

Stuff happens........paste a copy of his team picture into his book and then his mates can all sign it.

 

[HM]

I'm sorry that happened.

My son's $75 HS yearbook this year was missing several of the spring sports, but did have some of them in it. The one club he is in didn't have a picture or listing. Overall, I thought the final product was pretty bad with most of the candids out of focus and poorly staged. The school picture pages were the best part of the book and luckily my son's looked good.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

That is beyond irritating.

 

[Tikitoi]

I would be angry, too.

Yearbooks cause such problems. Have you heard about the girl in Florida, I think it was, who wore a dress for some seated group picture, but no underwear, and you can see up her dress? She hasn't been to school since.

Then there are the picture placeholders - the bad one around here a few years ago was "black girl" - that don't get removed. (My huband's brother's yearbook staff described some girl as "Sow of the Year" and it got printed - it's a wonder they weren't all expelled.)

Last year in our yearbook, the dark skinned African American kids came out looking like only eyes and smiles - like some racist cartoon from the 30s....I don't know if that was the fault of the photographer or the printer.

In your yearbook, does each page have a name on it? At our schools, each staff member is responsible for certain pages, and they have to have their names in tiny print on their pages. You might want to just mention to the student in charge of the page that it was hurtful that your son was left out.

Surprised they weren't expelled.

 

[Rora]

OP, that is irritating.

Keep on contacting the school if the issue doesn't get resolved. There probably is no sense if pursuing the yearbook issue but it's important that next year report cards, schedules and pictures are issued to the right person. As a teacher, I can tell you that the only way to get things done is to be a "pesky parent". Yes, I'm sure parents don't like being pesky but I can ensure that most schools will call you back after you've left them 50 messages.


Good luck, OP!

 

[Kimmumum]

OP, that is irritating.

Keep on contacting the school if the issue doesn't get resolved. There probably is no sense if pursuing the yearbook issue but it's important that next year report cards, schedules and pictures are issued to the right person. As a teacher, I can tell you that the only way to get things done is to be a "pesky parent". Yes, I'm sure parents don't like being pesky but I can ensure that most schools will call you back after you've left them 50 messages.


Good luck, OP!

Thanks everyone!!

I will be a pesky parent just for the reason of keeping this from happening again next year. That is really the reason I went up to school today instead of just calling. I wanted them to know I wasn't going away. They asked me if I wanted to speak to someone on the yearbook staff but I said no because that is not who I have an issue with....it is the whack job in the office. Hopefully something will get done tomorrow however I'm not holding my breath.

 

[RachelEllen]

This just made me laugh because the year book angst at our house is all ds's fault! He's going to a new school next year, and we know this yearbook will be special to him in the future.

He brought it home on the last day of school, and he had drawn cartoon mustaches, hats, eyes, etc on his entire class! Can't blame the school for that one!

 

[merekc]

I would caution you to also remember that the book is put together by students. They have one class period each day to work on it and then six other classes work on it throughout the day. Most of the yearbook advisers are also teaching other classes while also "helping" get the yearbook put together. It is truly amazing sometimes that it gets done.

It totally sucks that he was left out espcially when you even pointed out the potential issue. I would talk to the yearbook adviser and see if there is anyway to get a crack and peel photo of your student printed to put over the wrong kid in your son's book. This is something she can try to get from the yearbook publisher. I'm not sure if they will do just one though. I'm also not sure if they will do it if it is school error. They might do it but at a cost. If not, you could probably do one yourself, just get the label paper, print his photo and slap it over the wrong photo.

Many schools do put spring sports in the next year's book in order to meet their deadlines if they want to have a book done before school is out.

There will always be errors in yearbooks. Unfortunately, it sucks when it affects your child. The only other option would be to see if the school would refund your money, but they probably don't have any to refund. It went to pay the printing company.

 

[AmazingGrace]

My son helped distribute yearbooks this year and oh, the stories he came home with. The mistakes, the irate parents, the kids sneaking things into group photos. I think you should ask for your money back.

 

[mandy200587]

Please talk to the adviser also. We had a mistake one year and for the following year we had a note made of it and made sure it never happened again.

It's not easy putting together a yearbook in one class, just talk with the adviser, they oversee it and they can make note for this not to happen again.

 

[mla1977]

As far as the spring sports, my school put them in the year book the next year. I was on track and field. They would always have the pictures of the seniors in the spring sports from their junior year. My senior year they put pictures of people who had already graduated instead of the current seniors. I was pissed when I saw it was someone else doing the high jump and not me.

 

[Kimmumum]

Let me reiterate that I'm not angry with the yearbook staff. I know they work hard and we don't even do it during school. It is all done after school.

I am angry with the registrar who told me that human errors should not and will not happen in this school.

The reason I thought it was weird that the freshman spring sport pictures are going to be in the next years yearbook is because the sophomores and varsity are in this one. Why don't they put them all in?

Any excuses for where the fall sport team picture went?

Like I said before, I just want to get this fixed so it doesn't happen again next year. Thanks for listening!!

 

[mla1977]

Maybe they didn't take it or the picture didn't come out good. One year, we had to take our own pictures for cheerleading since the yearbook staff didn't come around to us.