High school yearbook includes pages on sex, drugs, and partying
Missouri parent Michelle Westerfield on the outrage from the community after yearbook included inappropriate topics
A salacious portion of a Missouri high school yearbook is drawing backlash from some parents by mentioning sex, drugs, and partying by students.
Michelle Westerfield, a mother who lives in the area outside St. Louis, joined "Fox & Friends First" to discuss the contents of the yearbook.
"There is a time and a place for everything and for a high school yearbook to glamorize casual sex, illegal drug and alcohol use is completely inappropriate," said Westerfield who lives near the school district.
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According to the New York Post, a page in the yearbook titled "Hooked(ish)" features opinions from students about "hook-up culture, the concept of a casual sexual relationship without labels, and its benefits and consequences."
Adorned with images of Plan-B One-Step, pregnancy tests, condoms and more, the spread is full of survey responses from anonymous students about the "weirdest" places they have hooked up: a football field, a dressing room, and even a "bowling alley parking lot in the backseat of someone else’s car."
The yearbook also included opinions from students about their drinking and smoking habits and preferences.
Westerfield said she believes these kids have been "completely misled by their educators."
"These are real-life issues that seem cool in a yearbook. I feel heartbroken for the 14-year-old kids that go to this high school who might feel peer pressure to maybe get into this stuff when they beforehand never really thought about doing any of these things"
Westerfield said the yearbook could have addressed these topics in a more responsible manner.
"You can still talk about the real life issues by maybe educating on the dangerous statistics of the consequences of casual sex and doing drugs and alcohol that would have been appropriate for a yearbook. Not glamorizing it, not normalizing it."
She said some parents seem to have "given up" on persuading their children to stand up to peer pressure.
"We've failed this generation somehow. … Parents have to parent and teachers need to educate in ways that don't encourage this stuff."
The Kirkwood School District said in a statement, "as school officials do not engage in prior review, the content of KHS media is determined by and reflects only the views of the student staff and not school officials or the school itself."
The Pioneer Yearbook defended the controversial pages saying, "we stand by our book and are proud of what we have accomplished. We are grateful for the right and freedom to publish what we believe is relevant to what students are experiencing and discussing."
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