It's payback time! Florida school agrees to refund outraged parents after photoshopping female students' yearbook snaps to make their outfits more conservative

 A Florida high school is offering outraged parents refunds after clumsily photoshopping 80 female students' yearbook photos to make them more conservative. 

Officials at Bartram Trail High School in St. John will pay back the $100 cost of the yearbook to anyone upset over their photoshopping - which was not applied to photos of male students in speedos.

The school initially ordered its yearbook committee edit the photos because they were 'inappropriate' and violated the school's dress code. Girls had the necklines of their sweaters raised - with one girl even having her shoulders covered up.


But school staff were forced into a humiliating U-turn after snaps of their poorly-executed photoshop attempts went viral. They said that in order to receive a refund, parents must return the yearbook. 

There has been no comment on whether another, uncensored, print run is planned, leaving scores of students with the option of keeping a yearbook that upsets them - or not having one at all. 

In a statement to News4Jax, district officials said they used to just exclude student pictures that they deemed in violation of the student code of conduct 'so the digital alterations were a solution to make sure all students were included in the yearbook.'

The district's website also included a disclaimer saying that student images might be altered to fit with the Bartram Trail High School dress code.

'All images in ads and all individual student pictures must be consistent with the St. Johns County School District Student Code of Conduct or may be digitally adjusted,' the disclaimer reads. 

The parents of Bartram Trail High School students are demanding an apology after their daughters' yearbook photos were edited to cover up their chests. Ninth-grader Riley O'Keefe is seen in her original photo
O'Keefe's edited photo is seen above

The parents of  Bartram Trail High School students are demanding an apology after their daughters' yearbook photos were edited to cover up their chests. Ninth-grader Riley O'Keefe is seen in the original (left) and edited (right) photos

'I felt confident that day and I looked good, in dress code': Ninth-grader Zoe similarly had her yearbook snap edited. Before photo is seen above
Iannone's edited photo is seen above

'I felt confident that day and I looked good, in dress code': Ninth-grader Zoe Iannone similarly had her yearbook snap edited. Before (left) and after (right)

Several of the photos leaked to the internet shows that girls' shirts were photoshopped to bring their necklines higher. However, photos of boys in skimpy speedos were left unedited. 

Ninth-grader Riley O'Keefe says she was left stunned when she saw her outfit had been altered in the printed edition of the yearbook, particularly because it had been approved by the school before she had her photo taken. 

O'Keefe's mom, Stephanie, told First Coast News Friday: 'Yesterday she happened to be wearing the shirt again so after school, we went up to the school and asked if she was in dress code and they said yes. 

'So, my next question was if the shirt is in dress code and is good enough for school and your school ID, why is it not enough for the yearbook?'


Other students say they have been left feeling 'sexualized' by the school, claiming the outfits they were wearing were not inappropriate in any way. 

'I felt confident that day and I looked good, in dress code,' ninth grader Zoe Iannone told Action News Jax. 

'When I sent it to my mom and all of us saw it, I felt very sexualized.'

An unedited image of another female student is seen above
The photoshopped image is pictured

Another of the edited images is seen above. Parents are now demanding an apology 

A mother told Nes4Jax she thought the school was sending young girls the 'wrong message' by editing out their cleavage, saying it 'sends the message that our girls should be ashamed of their growing bodies,' and another said she thought a refund on the $100 yearbooks was not enough.

'Our daughters of Bartram deserve an apology,' she stated. 'They are making them feel embarrassed about who they are.'   

The school had previously come under fire for singling girls' dress styles out in March, when teen girls said they were taken out of class and sent to the dean’s office to change clothes or face suspension. 

The incident sparked an online petition created by students calling for change, which had more than 4,000 signatures.

A subsequent investigation by News4Jax found the number of recorded violations of the St. Johns County School District’s student dress code skyrocketed during the 2020-21 school year, according to data provided by the district.

Across the district, 78% of dress code violations went to female students.

An investigation from News4Jax showed that 78 percent of dress code violations at Bartram Trail High School in St. John (pictured) went to female students

An investigation from News4Jax showed that 78 percent of dress code violations at Bartram Trail High School in St. John (pictured) went to female students

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