A Florida high school was forced to pause the distribution of its student-run yearbook temporarily after some parents complained about a two-page spread on the Black Lives Matter movement.
Administrators at West Broward High School in Pembroke Pines stopped selling and distributing the $90 yearbook The Edge “while the concerns were carefully reviewed,” a statement from Broward County Public Schools read.
The pages in question show students participating in protests in support of Black Lives Matter, a group that first grabbed headlines in 2013 after the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager who was gunned down in Florida by George Zimmerman.
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BLM also gained momentum last year after the killing of George Floyd, another unarmed black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. The tribute in the yearbook depicted the history of the BLM movement and included the names of black men, women, and children who have been killed by police.
“Most of it is history,” Elise Twitchell, a senior at West Broward High School and co-editor-in-chief of The Edge, told Miami’s WPLG.
Twitchell said the school decided to stop selling the yearbook on Friday without consulting any of the editors. Administrators told her the pages weren’t objective enough because they failed to mention Blue Lives Matter, a pro-police countermovement.
David Fleischer, the yearbook teacher and adviser at West Broward, said the pages were specifically for the BLM movement.
“We just didn’t feel that including anything beyond Black Lives Matter was appropriate because we thought that it took away from the purpose of the page,” he said.
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Fleischer also said school administrators had the opportunity to review the yearbook before publication but chose not to — only mentioning an issue after parents complained.
“Indefinitely suspending the yearbook over a spread advocating for education about racism is not what a ‘world class’ school does,” the teacher said.
The temporary halt on The Edge was lifted Monday after a review by Broward County Public Schools.
“As a result of the review, distribution of the yearbook resumed Monday morning with an insert noting that the views expressed are not sponsored by the District,” the statement from BCPS read.
