The school board had made it clear that they couldn’t change school policy and that the stickers would remain.However, new information came to light during a public comment, where they all agreed the images would not be covered.”The enthusiasm from students that happen to be here today, this made me realize and think that looking at yearbooks and comments, who is to say that one comment is better than the other,” Abby Sanchez, the vice chair with Seminole County Public Schools said. “We should be able to voice our concerns and we shouldn’t have anyone take that right away from us,” Sanchez said. “First, I want students to understand that the school board can not take action or corrective action here. The school board does not have that authority,” Sanchez said. “But the book is prepared for the students by the students, and it’s meant to be a record of their time in high school, what they thought and cared about,” Sanchez said.That’s what school board members for Seminole County Public Schools said before public comment began on Lyman High School’s recent decision to cover photos of the student-held “Don’t Say Gay” protest with stickers in the school yearbook.One after one, parents, students and teachers agreed that the stickers were a form of censorship. “It’s silencing the LGBTQ plus community, and silencing the journalistic community,” yearbook editor Sara Ward said.”We shouldn’t allow our yearbook to be censored, because that would be censoring our voices. This is a piece of history, and Lyman’s history,” yearbook editor Maya Gluck said.J.J. Holmes, a Seminole County student types his own speeches using his nose. Without a voice, he delivered a message that had some people in the audience in tears.”‘Don’t Say Gay’ isn’t even a law yet and you’re already using it to target students of the LGBTQ+ community,” Holmes said. “Tyler Clemente was 18-years-old when he jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge. He was outed by another student for being gay,” Holmes said. “Our yearbook is student-published and self and student-funded. Despite being school-owned and the technicalities of school policy, we can not take away that student right by not supporting the student press and student community as a whole,” Sara Ward, a yearbook writing editor from Lyman said. The school board also learned that similar sections in Hagerty and Oviedo yearbooks were not going to be covered up. So in the end, the board voted 5-to-0, to change course, and allow the section in Lyman’s yearbooks.But, it will have a sticker noting that the protests were not school approved.
The school board had made it clear that they couldn’t change school policy and that the stickers would remain.
However, new information came to light during a public comment, where they all agreed the images would not be covered.
“The enthusiasm from students that happen to be here today, this made me realize and think that looking at yearbooks and comments, who is to say that one comment is better than the other,” Abby Sanchez, the vice chair with Seminole County Public Schools said.
“We should be able to voice our concerns and we shouldn’t have anyone take that right away from us,” Sanchez said.
“First, I want students to understand that the school board can not take action or corrective action here. The school board does not have that authority,” Sanchez said.
“But the book is prepared for the students by the students, and it’s meant to be a record of their time in high school, what they thought and cared about,” Sanchez said.
That’s what school board members for Seminole County Public Schools said before public comment began on Lyman High School’s recent decision to cover photos of the student-held “Don’t Say Gay” protest with stickers in the school yearbook.
One after one, parents, students and teachers agreed that the stickers were a form of censorship.
“It’s silencing the LGBTQ plus community, and silencing the journalistic community,” yearbook editor Sara Ward said.
“We shouldn’t allow our yearbook to be censored, because that would be censoring our voices. This is a piece of history, and Lyman’s history,” yearbook editor Maya Gluck said.
J.J. Holmes, a Seminole County student types his own speeches using his nose.
Without a voice, he delivered a message that had some people in the audience in tears.
“‘Don’t Say Gay’ isn’t even a law yet and you’re already using it to target students of the LGBTQ+ community,” Holmes said.
“Tyler Clemente was 18-years-old when he jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge. He was outed by another student for being gay,” Holmes said.
“Our yearbook is student-published and self and student-funded. Despite being school-owned and the technicalities of school policy, we can not take away that student right by not supporting the student press and student community as a whole,” Sara Ward, a yearbook writing editor from Lyman said.
The school board also learned that similar sections in Hagerty and Oviedo yearbooks were not going to be covered up. So in the end, the board voted 5-to-0, to change course, and allow the section in Lyman’s yearbooks.
But, it will have a sticker noting that the protests were not school approved.
