Parents upset over 'censored' message in yearbook

GREENWOOD VILLAGE – When Carole Altman opened her daughter's yearbook from Belleview Elementary, she expected to see her message congratulating her daughter on completing the 5th grade. What she did not see is what angered her.

"What has been done here, in my opinion, is un-American," Altman said.

The Parent-Teacher Community Organization at Belleview Elementary established a yearbook committee. The committee sent a letter to parents asking them to pay $5 to publish a message to congratulate their students. The letter stated the message will include "all of your wonderful words."

Altman and her husband submitted this message: "So proud of you Remy for achieving fantastic grades, participating in so many wonderful after school activities and surviving so many of the Belleview teachers' liberal teachings. You are what you believe you can be. Aim high, always. Love, Mom & Dad."

"What was taken out was surviving the liberal teachings," Altman said.

She wanted her daughter, years from now, to appreciate how well she did in school even though Altman felt teachers were biased.

"Despite all the liberal teachings and so forth, she's come out with a good education," said Altman.

Yearbook committee member Blair Mellon says they took out the "liberal teachings" part because it was a political statement and not appropriate for the yearbook. School leaders agreed.

"It is a keepsake for children," said Tustin Amole, Cherry Creek Schools spokesperson. "It's something that they are going to be looking at years and years from now and just not an appropriate forum for political statements."

Altman says it was not political.

"The word liberal means loose. We have to take what the definition of liberal means. I didn't say Democrats," she said.

Webster's Dictionary defines liberal in part as "not orthodox." Click here to see Merriam-Webster's definition of "liberal."

Altman says that is what she meant that teachers were not using established and structured teaching practices in her opinion.

"That's not political unless the reason why they took it out was they put a political spin on it," said Altman. "Since when is the word liberal or conservative always to mean political?"

District leaders still believe Altman's motives were about politics.

"If we started to do that, then we would have political messages from every side and every viewpoint," said Amole.

This is on the opposite end of the spectrum from another yearbook controversy at Conifer High School. The yearbook adviser, a teacher, approved the portrayal of the use of drugs and alcohol on three separate pages. School officials have since expressed regret over that decision and have offered to remove those pages from individual yearbooks.

"So, why is that message allowed to get out, but mine is censored?" said Altman.

By law, schools are allowed to alter any school newspaper or yearbook for essentially any reason they think is inappropriate. The 1988 U.S. Supreme Court decision Hazelwood School District versus Kuhlmeier established that the first amendment does not protect school publications from censorship.

"Yes, it is our right to do that," Amole said.

Amole says the only thing the yearbook committee did wrong was not notifying Altman ahead of time that her message was being changed. The school is refunding her $5 payment. However, Altman says it was never about the money, it was about the principle.

"You expect to get what you paid for," Altman said.