Utah junior high school cheerleading manager with Down syndrome left out of team photo in yearbook
A 14-year-old Utah girl with Down syndrome was intentionally left out of the cheerleading team’s yearbook picture despite her being the manager for the squad.
Though she didn’t don the typical uniform and pom poms, Morgyn Arnold would typically attend games and boost spirit during school events, according to her father Jeffery Arnold, who spoke to CNN.
In the photo that was edited, Arnold was seated in the middle of the front row, but upon receiving the yearbook on her last day of junior high, she noticed that a different photo that omitted her was used instead.
“She walked in and she shows it to me, she says ‘I’m not here, but these are my friends and I love them,’” Jeffrey Arnold said.
The Davis School District who runs Shoreline Junior High School released a statement apologizing for the mishap.
“We are deeply saddened by the mistake that was made. We are continuing to look at what has occurred and why it occurred. Apologies have been made to the family and we sincerely apologize to others impacted by this error. We will continue to address it with the parents of the student. We will continue to look at our processes to ensure this does not happen again,” the statement read.
“I am optimistic by the empathetic conversations that are starting to be engaged in to help impact change to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” Jeffery Arnold said.
Arnold also said that other mothers whose daughters were on the cheerleading team have come out in support of Morgyn. Many of them have faced backlash with some people making “very malicious hate and disgusting comments” on social media.
“The outpouring and rallying of love by the girls, these cheerleaders, only shows very distinctly that these girls, these cheerleaders were Morgyn’s friends, they were inclusive of her and continue to be and they were just as disappointed to see this,” Arnold said
“They’re showing, through their example, the proper way to support and help in situations like this and others are making it worse by their hatred and the nastiness of their comments.”
Morgyn will be back in the same school for her first year of high school, but her father is unsure if she would be on the cheerleading team again.
