A change in Blue Peak High School’s yearbook disappointed at least one special needs student and triggered an avalanche of negative national attention for the small alternative high school.
For the last two years a group of adult special education students, who attend Tooele County School District’s 18-22 transition program housed in the district’s Community Learning Center, were included on a page in Blue Peak High School’s yearbook. Blue Peak is also located at the CLC.
However, a decision was made not to put pictures of the special education students in the 2015 Blue Peak High School yearbook.
The mother of one of the special education students at the CLC purchased a yearbook. The student was reportedly disappointed when she searched the pages of the book and couldn’t find her picture.
Media outlets across the country picked up a Salt Lake City news report of the incident. Some ran headlines that read, “Utah school bans special needs student from yearbook.”
The headlines were misleading, according to school district officials.
They have apologized for the confusion that caused some students to feel left out. A yearbook insert is being prepared for free distribution to all students who purchased a yearbook, according to Bryce Eardley, Blue Peak High School principal.
This is Eardley’s first year as principal of Blue Peak. He has accepted responsibility for the confusion and hurt feelings.
“I just feel awful,” he said. “I love those students. I would never want to do something that would hurt or offend them.”
Parents of the 18-22 transition students were not notified of the change in the yearbook. Eardley admits that was a mistake.
The decision not to put adult special needs students in the high school yearbook had nothing to do with wanting to exclude special needs students or running out of pages, district officials say.
The decision was made to be consistent with the evolution of the school district’s new 18-22 transition program and help achieve the goal of independence for the 17 students in the program, according to Mat Jackson, Tooele County School District Special Education director.
He explained the reason for the change in Blue Peak High School’s yearbook, and it starts with understanding the CLC’s purpose.
The structure was built to house several programs. Each program at the CLC is a distinct and separate program. They are not a school within a school, but they share a building, he said.
Currently there are four programs that meet at the CLC. They include Blue Peak High School, the district’s alternative high school; Adult Education, a program for students over 18 who are working on a high school diploma; Career and Technical Education, students from high schools throughout the county attend classes for cosmetology, information technology, law enforcement, engineering, medical careers and other careers; and the 18-22 year old transition program for special education students, according to Jackson.
The 18-22 transition program is new to the CLC. It started as a pilot program four years ago and expanded two years ago to include all special education students between 18 and 22.
Initially, students from Blue Peak High School were involved with peer tutoring the students in the 18-22 transition program.
Although the special education students were not students at Blue Peak High School, they were included in the school’s yearbook because of the peer-tutoring program.
The district evaluated the 18-22 transition program last year and decided the students were not achieving a desirable level of independence. As a result, the peer-tutoring program was ended.
The district formed a partnership with the state Office of Rehabilitation, Tooele Applied Technology College, the Utah State University Regional Campus, and local businesses.
“We place these students in real jobs in the community,” Jackson said. “They work and earn a paycheck. Instead of peer tutoring, they work with a job coach.”
The program has been immensely successful, according to Jackson.
Most of the students are gainfully employed. One former student in the 18-22 transition program now attends USU Tooele. Other school districts use the program as a model for their 18-22 special education students, Jackson said.
As a result of the change in the program, Blue Peak High School students and the 18-22 transition students no longer officially interact at the CLC. However, they share hallways and a lunch room with all students in other programs at the CLC.
“We want the 18-22 transition students to feel like college students,” Jackson said. “They are transitioning into adulthood and becoming independent.”
The decision was made not to include the 18-22 transition students in the high school yearbook. These students have already attended four years of high school, been included in their yearbook, and had the opportunity to walk at graduation if they met the requirements for a certificate of completion, according to Jackson.
Instead of a printed yearbook, a local professional videographer donated services and produced a video yearbook for students in the 18-22 transition program, according to Eardley.
However, Eardley doesn’t want anybody to feel left out. He has called the yearbook company and an insert featuring the 18-22 transition students will be printed.
The insert will be printed on the same quality of paper as the rest of the yearbook, he said.
So far Eardley has heard from parents of four transition students who do not want their students in the insert.
“I don’t know what it will look like,” Eardley said. “But we will print an insert. We need to do that. Nobody should feel left out.”