Special ed students left out of high school yearbook in California

From The Fresno Bee in California:

Garrett Naughton (pictured) flipped through his yearbook for what must have been the hundredth time. The pages were crimped, the cover was worn.

"There," he said with a grin, pointing to his photo.

But this was not one of the 2009 yearbooks that hundreds of Madera High School students carried around campus all last week to have their friends sign. Instead, Garrett -- who just finished his junior year -- had his friends jot notes on an old yearbook.

The yearbook printed this year didn't include a photo of Garrett, who has Down syndrome, or the 10 other special-education students in his class.

School officials say the omission was a simple oversight and that it won't happen again. But Garrett's mother, Gail Naughton (pictured) -- a special-education teacher -- says the school could easily have avoided the mistake and is not doing enough to make amends.

Instead of sending the 600 or so people who bought the $80 yearbooks an insert with photos of the special-education students, the school last week distributed a one-page handout with the photos to just the 11 students.

"It was a slap in the face," Naughton said Monday.

Jake Bragonier, a Madera Unified School District spokesman, said special-education students have been included in previous years' yearbooks. This year, however, new software weeded out photos of students whose identification numbers were not in the school system.

The high school did not assign the special-education students identification numbers because the special-education class -- though held on the Madera High campus -- is run by the Madera County Office of Education.

"They're on our campus, but they're not technically our students," Bragonier said. Nevertheless, he added, the students should have been included.

"Everyone is rated equally," Bragonier said. "We want to do the right thing."

Naughton, who teaches a preschool special-education class for the county office of education, transferred Garrett from Beyer High in Modesto to Madera High last year.

The outgoing 17-year-old who likes to dance and play paint ball has enjoyed his time at Madera High, Naughton said.

Garrett also has a box full of previous yearbooks that he likes to thumb through. So when when this year's yearbooks were distributed, he was disappointed to find that his photo and those of his classmates weren't there.

"Those kids are very visible," Naughton said. "Now all of a sudden they're not visible."

Naughton said she would have been satisfied if the school had sent an insert with the students' photos to everyone who bought a yearbook.

Bragonier said the district is considering that option. But Cecilia Massetti, the associate superintendent for student programs and services at the county office of education, said school officials would first have to get permission from parents of the special-education students. If they didn't, it would raise privacy concerns because they would be identified as special-education students.

Regardless, Massetti said, school officials will make sure the omission doesn't happen again.

"It was an oversight," she said. "We do apologize to the parents for that."