Teen girls furious after school alters their yearbook photos to cover shoulders and chests

Florida teenagers are embarrassed and angry after their school yearbook photos were altered to cover their chests and shoulders.

Riley O'Keefe, a ninth-grader at Bartram Trail High School, said school administrators deemed her photo inappropriate and digitally altered it for the print edition, and 79 other girls had theirs changed in similar ways, reported WJAX-TV.

"You're not only affecting their photo," O'Keefe said. "It's not just protecting them. You're making them uncomfortable and feel like their bodies aren't acceptable in a yearbook."

The girls said the alterations made them feel ashamed and exposed.

"I felt confident that day and like I looked good," ninth-grader Zoe Iannone. "I was in dress code, and then, when I sent it to my mom and all of us saw it, I felt very sexualized, like that was what they were worrying about."

O'Keefe said she even wore the same outfit that had been digitally altered for the yearbook to meet with school administrators, who assured her it complied with the dress code.

"I don't want girls to feel like they don't have a voice, especially girls who don't feel comfortable coming and speaking about it," she said.

District administrators said the decision was made by a woman teacher who serves as yearbook coordinator, and parents who complained would get a refund.

"Bartram Trail High School's previous procedure was to not include student pictures in the yearbook 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," said district spokeswoman Christina Langston.