EDUCATION

East Brunswick High School under fire after yearbook photo mishap raises concerns of bias

Thursday, June 6, 2024

NJ high school under fire after yearbook photo mishap of students

Toni Yates has the story in New Jersey on the high school yearbook pictures.

EAST BRUNSWICK, New Jersey (WABC) -- A New Jersey high school is under fire after a picture of Jewish students was found replaced with a photo of Muslim students in their yearbook.

East Brunswick High School students discovered the photo on Tuesday in a section in the yearbook titled, in bold print, "Jewish Student Union." The names of the Jewish students were also omitted.

News of the mishap raced through the school like wildfire.

"I don't think that this was intentional by a group of people, but one person trying to make a statement," said senior Hilda Jaegersen.

But it wasn't only the school where the controversy spread.

East Brunswick Mayor Brad J. Cohen called the situation a "blatant act of antisemitism." Local rabbis also responded to the concerns of their congregations.

"We are disheartened, dismayed and feeling a lot of anger," Rabbi Larry Brandspiegel said. "I do believe we have to give the people in charge, those who are responsible the opportunity to speak, explain and come up with some answers."

The East Brunswick School District took action immediately. The 700 yearbooks handed out to seniors were recalled. The publisher is being paid $1,000 to make this right. It was not the publisher's error.

East Brunswick School District Superintendent Dr. David Valeski says an investigation is underway into what happened. He acknowledged it won't ever happen again, and if it was done on purpose, the person or people involved will be held accountable.

"If it is a staff member, this would be a loss of a job," Valeski said. "If it is a student, we would have to look at the code of conduct handbook."