Florida High School Issues Refunds to Families After Photoshopping Yearbook Photos of 80 Female Students

When we were in high school, we remember the option of having our school pictures “retouched.” This was a great option if you wanted to make some pesky acne disappear or smooth out some flyaway hair, but it was never extreme. The students whose parents chose retouching got back pictures where their kids still looked like their kids.

At one school in Florida, parents and students noticed some drastic changes to their school photos when they received their yearbook. The photos weren’t just retouched. The photos were photoshopped for “modesty.”

According to the Bartram Trail High School website, “All images in ads and all individual student pictures must be consistent with the St. Johns County School District Student Code of Conduct or may be digitally adjusted.”

In the most recent yearbook, 80 students discovered that their photos had been altered, and many of the students were wearing outfits that they had worn to school many, many times before seeing the yearbook. Nobody thought the outfits were inappropriate when the students were at school in person, and the school is pointing blame at one yearbook teacher for modifying the photos. It’s worth noting that all the photos that were modified were photos of female students.

Reporter Ben Ryan brought attention to the issue by posting an example of a before and after photo. The photo on the right is the one that appeared in the yearbook.

Ryan went on to post photos of other students who discovered that their pictures had been modified.

When Ryan reached out to the school, he was told that parents could get refunded for the school yearbook if they returned it. There was no apology made for altering the photos.

The school district claims similar edits have been made in the past, but parents never noticed it. The district also says that it was solely one teacher’s decision to make the edits.

Meanwhile, students and parents complain that editing the photos makes the young ladies in the photos feel insecure about their changing bodies.

Do you think the girls in these photos were dressed inappropriately? Do you think the school overstepped by editing the photos? Would you be mad if your daughter’s photo was edited in the school yearbook?