Utah high school decides not to include special needs students in yearbook

[KamaAina]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/05/19/1385899/-Utah-school-decides-not-to-include-special-needs-students-in-yearbook

This year, Leslee Bailey was stunned when she saw that her daughter Amber wasn't included in the Blue Peak High School yearbook as she had been in past years. Amber has Down syndrome and takes classes in the Utah high school building....

But Leslee Bailey says the move just serves to single out her daughter and other special needs students from the rest of the student body.

“It’s kind of like they singled out the students who were in the transition program and said, ‘We don’t want you in our yearbook,’” said Amber’s mother, Leslee Bailey.

(...)

“It doesn’t just matter because I love her and I want the best for her,” she said. “But it bothers me because it seems they’ve gone back in time to where we’re not including them. And we are going to tuck them away and say, ‘No, they don’t exist.'”

[sakabatou]

1. *eyetwitch*

WTF?!

[Hepburn]

2. Wow....

...I thought society was beyond this kind of cruelty to others who are different.

This shocks me.

[Unknown Beatle]

14. Why? It's Utah. n/t

[Hepburn]

3. I sent an email to Mat Jackson -- Director of Special Ed

Here is his email addie:

[e-mail]

[NYC_SKP]

6. kick

Thank you, Hepburn.

[Exilednight]

7. Just sent my email. Thank you for the info.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

12. good, thanks.

The only explanation for this is that they're soulless pukes and want to teach the youngsters how you do it.

[hifiguy]

4. That is awful.

Kick for visibility.

[Wellstone ruled]

5. Just another day in Utah.

Such loving and caring people,not.

[smiley]

10. "Eat, drink and be merry"....

"For tomorrow you may be in Utah."

I once owned a t-shirt with that saying on it. Couldn't be more true.

[chillfactor]

8. thank you...

email sent....that school makes me sick to my stomach...what stone age mentality....

[gollygee]

9. Huh? What?

Wow. No! That isn't OK! What are people thinking?

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

11. .

[Thespian2]

13. What is happening to people?

When I was a teenage life guard, I had the good fortune to teach a child with Downs Syndrome to swim and dive...he taught me how to be a better human being..

Later, as a theatre teacher, I spent time helping multi-handicapped young people learn to use a video camera...difficult word, great rewards..

Special needs students are wonderful people...the thought of leaving them out of the yearbook would never have been tolerated..

[KamaAina]

16. Well, these days, they're disabled people, not "handicapped"

but otherwise,

[Nolimit]

15. This might not be an unusual occasion

I remember the special needs students at my high school would graduate with the rest of us but kept going to school for at least 3 more years (until they were 21ish). I don't think they were in the yearbook after their 4th year in HS. It sounds like this might be the same case.

[Scuba]

17. Shameful.

[Hepburn]

18. Anyone get a reply to their email? I did and I call bullshit.

Can we all say in unison: "Justifi - fucking- cation". Yep, it's Utah. What else could we have expected!