Wood Intermediate to reprint yearbooks

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By Sheena Dooley | Saturday, June 28, 2008 |

Special education students excluded from Wood Intermediate School’s yearbook this year will receive a reprinted copy that includes the 30 children who were left out.

In addition, the Davenport school will use the reprinted version as its official 2007-08 yearbook, said Principal Rick Herrig.

Parents of the affected students received a letter this week notifying them of an agreement Herrig reached with yearbook publishing house, Jostens, and school photography company, Lifetouch, to reprint 35 copies of the yearbook. The three opted against publishing an insert with the students because it would serve as a “visible exclusion” of the students, Herrig said.

“We felt the best way to assure that people felt included in our yearbook was to reprint those with the students where they belong,” he said. “It was an unfortunate omission that happened and it is something that we hope will not happen in the future.”

School officials and parents noticed the omission of almost every special education student from the yearbook when they were distributed earlier this month. From what Herrig gathered by talking to Wood’s yearbook adviser, Jostens and Lifetouch, the source of the oversight was a text file. The yearbook adviser had directed the publishing company to print the names and photos of every sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grader, but the special education students had not been assigned a grade. Without a grade level, the computer program did not acknowledge them when it came time to print.

“In my experience, many schools may not be as proactive, they may opt for a correction insert so I applaud Wood’s proactive approach to making this fair and equitable with the parties involved,” Dan Patters, a Jostens yearbook representative, said in a written statement.

It will cost $1,800 to reprint copies, which Herrig hopes to have for families before school starts in seven weeks. Wood will use $600 from its student activities fund to cover its share of the bill. Jostens and Lifetouch will split the remaining cost, Herrig said.

To prevent similar glitches in the future, Herrig said the school will most likely print a copy of the yearbook to review before authorizing its print. Also, the school will double-check to make sure grade levels are assigned to students when their photos are taken.

Sheena Dooley can be contacted at (563) 383-2363 or sdooley@qctimes.com.