Slurs Make Way Into AZ School Yearbook

TONOPAH, Ariz. - Every student looks forward to cracking open the yearbook when it comes out. But one Arizona high school student was shocked to see a nasty insult about her printed on every copy.

Marie Gray opened her yearbook to see a derogatory comment about her weight, found in the section of their yearbook where students sign their names.

"It was mean and I hope nobody else has to go through this," says Gray, a 15-year-old freshman at Tonopah High School. "I was stunned and I was upset and I didn't know what to do."

The yearbook advisor apologized and said she would mark out the words with a black marker on the yearbooks that hadn't yet been handed out.

"They can be as sorry as they want but it still hurts. They can't rearrange time and take it back."

Mark Joraanstad, the Saddle Mountain Superintendent, launched an investigation searching for the students responsible. He also placed the yearbook advisor on paid administrative leave.

"When I saw it I was shocked, embarrassed and deeply sorry especially for the two students involved," says Joraanstad. "Obviously the proof reading there was not careful."

Since this has apparently happened before at other schools, the yearbook manufacturer is giving the school stickers to put over those comments.

Gray wasn't the only freshman targeted; there was also a gay slur written under another student's name.