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Utah School Photoshops Clothes On Girls' Yearbook Photos

Kathy Zerbib |
May 29, 2014 | 10:35 a.m. PDT

Senior Entertainment Editor

Some female students wearing tank tops noticed sleeves were added to their photo (Twitter/@Mahz22).
Some female students wearing tank tops noticed sleeves were added to their photo (Twitter/@Mahz22).
Some female students at Wasatch High School are speaking out against administration for retouching their yearbook photos. The yearbook staff and school officials stand by their decision to add necklines and sleeves to show less skin.

The school, located approximately 50 miles from Salt Lake City, Utah, is accused of failing to notify its students that their pictures would be altered. Had they known, the students say they would have changed and taken their pictures again.

Wasatch County School District Supt. Terry E. Shoemaker disagrees, stating the girls knew there was a dress code and there was a sign present at the photoshoot warning students that pictures may be retouched.

However, the school did fall short of enforcing its modesty on all deserving students. Some girls were particularly upset that they got a digital cover-up, but others' did not.

"I feel like they put names in a hat and pick and choose who," sophomore Rachel Russel said. In her yearbook picture, the school added black sleeves to her tank top. 

READ MORE: Target's Photoshop Flop

The arbitrary nature of the retouching makes the issue especially unfair to students.

"There were plenty of girls [who] were wearing thicker tank tops and half of them got edited and half of them didn't," Russel said.

When they asked school officials, the girls were told the yearbook could not be changed after it had been printed.

Shoemaker admits the school was not consistent in its retouching, but is adamant about its decision to alter photos.

"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 appropriately for things," he said.

Reach Senior Entertainment Editor Kathy Zerbib here. Follow her on Twitter here.



 

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