Valedictorian Spanked for Fake Yearbook Ads
At many schools there is great competition to be Valedictorian. One of the perps of this sophisticated and superior prank was the Valedictorian and I just bet there were people who were chomping at the bit to “narc on Mr Perfect.” Though allowed to march in graduation the 3 students were suspended for 5 days. I suspect that’s a meaningless punishment ‘cuz if they hung with the Valedictorian they probably got to exempt many of their final exams. This is not a breaking story but it is indeed notable.
YEARBOOK SUCKS is apparently watermarked in one ad. If you read the first letters of the umbreall ad you get BURN SCHOOL.
Yearbook prank taints graduates
chronicle.augusta.com | By Julia Sellers, Staff Writer | June 06, 2008
A senior joke in the Midland Valley High School yearbook ended with three students suspended and a prank that will last forever.
When Midland Valley High yearbooks went home two weeks ago, senior portraits were in place, baby ads filled the back pages and local advertisers showed their support for the school.
But a page with false advertisements held secret messages saying “yearbook blows,” “I hate yearbook,” and “Hickson sux,” a reference to Principal Doris Hickson.
Past yearbook editors also ran silly fake ads, but this year’s prank didn’t get past administrators.
Yearbook editors Tiffany Redd and Josh Kucela and business editor Ashley Videtto were suspended for running the fake ads.
Ms. Redd said she didn’t want to speak about the suspension, and Mr. Kucela and Mr. Videtto did not return calls for comment.
Under Aiken County’s student code of conduct, suspended and expelled students can have privileges revoked, school attorney Bill Burkhalter said. Privileges include walking at graduation. There are no specific punishments for seniors or senior pranks.
After a five-day suspension and a recommendation by school administrators that the students not be allowed to participate in graduation ceremonies, Midland Valley parent and Aiken attorney Chuck Jones offered to represent the three students for appeals before the Area 3 advisory council.
“School administrators have a hard time as it is. I have total respect for them,” Mr. Jones said. “At the end of the year, they ran out of avenues to use for the punishment. These three kids had never had a blemish on their records.”
“I personally did not find it offensive,” he said. “I can see where some people would have thought there were other issues involved.”
Mr. Jones said he knew the school yearbook staff ran similar ads at least two years ago, and no students were punished.
The yearbook page looks like another advertisement page. The first letters of words and telephone numbers spell out secret messages. Watermarks on the page, which aren’t visible at first glance, also reveal messages.
The students did serve out their suspension, and they are being allowed to walk today at graduation, Mr. Jones said.
Upset parents, however, sent letters to Ms. Hickson asking that their privileges be revoked.
“Parents are upset because he’s (Mr. Videtto) supposed to be our valedictorian and he’s putting rude comments throughout this yearbook that we paid for,” parent Linda Briggs said. “This is not just his yearbook; it’s the school’s yearbook and it’s the class’s yearbook, and it didn’t have to be in there.”
Mrs. Briggs said many parents of students in the top 10 percent of the class asked that Mr. Videtto not be allowed to speak.
The principal and advisory council members did not return calls seeking comment, and yearbook adviser Katheleen Conyers did not respond to e-mails for comment.
Reach Julia Sellers at (706) 823-3424 or julia.sellers@augustachronicle.com.