Parents outraged after Florida high school edits girls’ yearbook pictures to make clothes more conservative

‘Our daughters of Bartram deserve an apology,’ one mother says

Bartram Trail High School says it altered yearbook photos for outfits that violated the ‘student code of conduct’ (First Coast News)

A high school in Florida is facing accusations of sexism after it reportedly edited dozens of yearbook pictures to make female students’ outfits more conservative.

According to Action News Jax, Bartram Trail High School altered 80 different yearbook photos – all of them of girls. In many of them, crudely photoshopped rectangles in the colour of the girls’ clothing can be seen covering up their chests.

Many of those students have expressed outrage.

“I felt confident that day and I looked good, in dress code,” ninth grader Zoe Iannone told Action News Jax. “When I sent it to my mom and all of us saw it, I felt very sexualized, like that was what they were worrying about.”

Parents are furious as well.

“Our daughters of Bartram deserve an apology,” one anonymous mother told the station. “They are making them feel embarrassed about who they are.”

In a statement, the high school defended the alterations.

“Bartram Trail High School’s previous procedure was to not include student pictures in the yearbook that they deemed in violation of the student code of conduct,” the school said, “so the digital alterations were a solution to make sure all students were included in the yearbook.”

The school also offered to refund any parents unhappy with the yearbook, and delicately added that administrators had been “receiving feedback” about it.

But some families say a refund isn’t enough, and complain of a double standard. While 80 girls were covered up, the school left alone a photo of the boys’ swim team – who were wearing speedos.

“It doesn’t make any sense that they looked at that and were like, ‘This is okay, but this is not,’” Riley O’Keefe, a ninth grade student whose photo was edited, told First Coast News.

Riley’s mother, Stephanie Fabre, added that the “code of conduct” isn’t even being applied consistently to the girls.

“Yesterday she happened to be wearing the shirt again so after school, we went up to the school and asked if she was in dress code and they said yes,” Ms Fabre told the station. “So my next question was, if the shirt is in dress code and is good enough for school and your school ID, why is it not enough for the yearbook?”

Bartram Trail High School has not yet responded to The Independent’s request for comment.