Newark School Superintendent Apologizes

June 25, 2007

NEWARK—The Newark School District Monday said that it had made a mistake when it censored a photograph of a gay kiss in the 2007 yearbook at East Side High School.

In a statement the district said that Superintendent Marion A. Bolden has apologized student Andre Jackson, 18, and would reissue an un-redacted version of the yearbook to any student at the school who wants one.

Superintendent Marion A. Bolden personally apologizes to Mr. Jackson and regrets and embarrassment and unwanted attention the matter has brought to him, according to the statement.

But the district's explanation for censoring the picture of Jackson kissing boyfriend David Escobales,19, has left some people unsatisfied.

The decision was based, in part, on misinformation that Mr. Jackson was not one of our students and our review simply focused on the suggestive nature of the photograph, the district said in its statement.
Earlier, when Bolden was questioned about the blacked out picture, she told the Star-Ledger that the photograph was illicit.

It looked provocative, she told the paper. If it was either heterosexual or gay, it should have been blacked out. It's how they posed for the picture.

Bolden ordered staff at the school to use magic markers to obliterate the picture after it was brought to her attention by a board official.

Jackson learned the shot had been blacked out when he picked up his copy.

He, like a number of other students, had bought a page in the yearbook to place pictures of himself and a commemorative message.

The school's action probably violated the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, which, among other things, bars discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression. The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in February that schools are legally obligated to protect LGBT students from discrimination and bullying in the same way employees are protected in the workplace.

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.stephenhyland.com/blawg/mt/mt-tb.cgi/125