Walter Payton College Prep To Spend Over $22,000 On Reprinting Yearbooks
CHICAGO (CBS)-- Administrators at Walter Payton College Prep announced the decision to spend over $22,000 for yearbook reprints after the yearbooks were printed containing offensive content.
School officials said the yearbook contained six photographs of students displaying the "ok" sign, known as the "Circle Game."
While the school believes the students had "playful" intentions, the hand gesture was also a symbol for white power.
"Of course, such symbology is completely antithetical to the values of our community; it is repugnant and odious and has no place at all in our Payton, American, and world communities," school officials stated in a letter to the school community.
The letter stated it will take four to five weeks for the reprinted yearbooks to be delivered.
Walter Payton College Prep is not the only school dealing with offensive yearbook content.
On May 23, Highland Park High School halted yearbook distribution after a senior quote was linked to Nazi leaders.
Earlier that week, administrators at Oak Park and River Forest High School decided at a school board meeting to spend nearly $54,000 to reprint the school yearbook, after discovering several photos of students making a hand gesture associated with racism.
School staff found 18 photos of students making the symbol, which is formed by making an "ok" symbol with the fingers and turning the hand into a downward position.
