An apparent act of school yearbook censorship has angered some students and a retired teacher in Chattooga County.
Aaron Wentz, a 2009 graduate, says his Chattooga High School yearbook is spoiled by school leaders cutting four pages from the book after it had been printed and delivered to the school.
“They didn’t have the right to do that,” Mr. Wentz said. “Those are our memories they just decided to remove.”
Principal Jimmy Lenderman said in an e-mailed statement that he ordered the pages to be removed. He said the school’s image needs an overhaul and pictures on those pages did not represent Chattooga High School well.
The pages — two front-and-back pages — contain photo montages that include a dozen or so shirtless young men playing basketball. One photo shows a young man standing behind a seated teen with his groin touching the back of the boy’s head.
“Inadvertently, the school administration did not approve the 2008-2009 yearbook in its entirety; there were several photographs that did not reflect an appropriate image of the school or our community,” Mr. Lenderman wrote.
Longtime school yearbook advisor Dr. Alan Perry posted the censored pages on his Facebook page. Dr. Perry, who retired at the end of the school year, said the removal was inappropriate.
“I’m very disappointed with the decision to mutilate a wonderful yearbook — a decision that was completely unnecessary,” Dr. Perry wrote in a media statement. “There was absolutely nothing inappropriate about the pages that were cut from the book.”
School leaders have offered to refund the $50 purchase price, but Mr. Lenderman said no one has asked for a refund and he has received only three complaints about the page removal.
Adam Crisp covers education issues for the Times Free Press. He joined the paper's staff in 2007 and initially covered crime, public safety, courts and general assignment topics. Prior to Chattanooga, Crisp was a crime reporter at the Savannah Morning News and has been a reporter and editor at community newspapers in southeast Georgia. In college, he led his student paper to a first-place general excellence award from the Georgia College Press Association. He earned ...
Good for Jimmy Lenderman. I realize that High School memories are priceless, however, sometimes our young students don't realize at the time that some memories are ones they regret making after they get older, and wish they had not made.
i am a graduate from CHS and they have ripped pages out of my yearbook also which is something i have paid for so therefore it was my property and i have looked at the year book and i have seen other pages with the same pictures what about them and pictures with some girl having one leg up in the air that is worse than them pictures i think they should replace my property cause i paid for it would you purchase a book that has pages missing?? what is the difference than trions year books i seen one before where someone is sitting on the toilet is that inapropiate i think so did something say something about that of course not cause people think trion is so much better and there not.
First of all, regardless of the content, the pictures are not very good. Furthermore, judging from the previous post, it seems less time should be spent looking at yearbooks and more time studying English books.
The photos are poor quality, but they are just kids. Chattooga High School is not a military academy, its a public High School funded by "we the taxpayers". 30 years as Marine, letting them think for you may be your idea of nirvana, but I want to think for myself. Learning and disipline should go hand in hand, The football program sold at the games looked like a memorial for your family.
i am a graduate from CHS and they have ripped pages out of my yearbook also which is something i have paid for so therefore it was my property and i have looked at the year book and i have seen other pages with the same pictures what about them and pictures with some girl having one leg up in the air that is worse than them pictures i think they should replace my property cause i paid for it would you purchase a book that has pages missing?? what is the difference than trions year books i seen one before where someone is sitting on the toilet is that inapropiate i think so did something say something about that of course not cause people think trion is so much better and there not. Username: yvonne4491
I'm sure the teachers and staff at Chattooga High School are proud of you, yvonne4991. Your impeccable use of English, spelling, and punctuation prove you certainly deserved to graduate with honors.
I await your contributions to society, not to mention your future appearance on "Cops".
Harry Statel
"i am a graduate from CHS and they have ripped pages out of my yearbook also which is something i have paid for so therefore it was my property and i have looked at the year book and i have seen other pages with the same pictures what about them and pictures with some girl having one leg up in the air that is worse than them pictures i think they should replace my property cause i paid for it would you purchase a book that has pages missing?? what is the difference than trions year books i seen one before where someone is sitting on the toilet is that inapropiate i think so did something say something about that of course not cause people think trion is so much better and there not"
I am not sure what Trion has to do with anything. I am sure you are aware that in the photo you are refering to, the gril from Trion is FULLY clothed and doing nothing inappropriate. I must commend you on you exxcellent use of grammar and punctuation though. Very good job.
To harrystatel and JaneDoe, I bet you were looking for the the spell check button just before sending your stupid comments.
o my i misspelled words and didnt use punctuation correctly. yall want to down chattooga for it but o its too bad i went to trion over half of my life so why dont yall take yalls stupid perfectly spelled and punctuated comments and shove them somewhere!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There is nothing remotely inappropriate in any of these pictures. I think censoring them is silly, but actually cutting the pages out of the printed books is extreme! This is offensive to the students in the pictures and to the editors of the year book. I think they are owed an apology.
And mxnwilson, there is absolutely nothing in these pictures for these young people to regret.
I am a graduate of Chattooga High School and I believe that this action by the current principal was an over reaction to say the least. I worked on the year book staff when I was in school and these pages look to be student shots that the staff always added to the “Student Life” section of the yearbook. I have not seen the yearbook in question so I am assuming at this point. These student shot pages were often pictures that students took during hours they were not at school. It showed how students from Chattooga spent free time, vacations from school, and hobbies or sports they enjoyed. I make the assumption that these pages fall into this category due to the balloon festival photos that are also included on the page. If these pages in question were in fact these types of pages I see no problem with any of them being in the yearbook. I think that Mr. Lenderman needs to realize that he is no longer in the military and that these are just kids having fun. The high school feels more like a prison these days and less like a school. While I understand the importance of safety in schools, mainly because I work in one, I also believe that you must let students of all ages express and enjoy themselves or no one is going to learn anything at all. Perhaps if Mr. Lenderman was as concerned with student’s education as he is with last year’s yearbook then perhaps Chattooga High School would not have failed AYP for the last three years.
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