WALL, N.J. – Several New Jersey students and their parents are livid after references to Donald Trump, and only Donald Trump, were edited out of Wall Township High School’s 2017 yearbook.
Junior Grant Berardo told the Ashbury Park Press he wore a navy blue “TRUMP – Make America Great Again” t-shirt for his yearbook photo with his parents’ permission, but when he received the annual last week the logo was gone.
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“I was Photoshopped,” Berardo said.
“I sent it to my mom and dad, just like ‘You won’t believe this.’ I was just overall disappointed,” he said. “I like Trump, but it’s history too. Wearing that shirt memorializes the time.”
He wasn’t the only student targeted by overzealous, politically motivated yearbook editors.
One of Berardo’s classmates who wore a Trump shirt was also censored, as was that student’s sister, the freshman class president who selected a Trump quote to appear below her picture.
“We’re very angry,” Janet Dobrovich-Fago, mother of the two other censored students, told NJ.com. “When we saw that Montana’s (her daughter’s) quote dropped out, we thought it was a mistake because all the other class presidents’ quotes were still there. But when we saw that Wyat’s (her son’s) short was photoshopped and we heard about Grant, I knew this was not a coincidence.
“This was purposeful and it’s wrong,” Dobrovich-Fago said.
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Berardo, a member of the National Honor Society and student athlete, told NJ.com there is no school dress code or other policy prohibiting students from wearing political shirts for the yearbook, and nobody raised the issue on picture day.
“We didn’t have a dress code,” he said. “The seniors (boys) have to wear black jackets and ties, but the underclassmen don’t have a dress code.”
Wall Township superintendent Cheryl Dyer told New Jersey 101.5 she’s aware of the issue and investigating.
“The allegations are disturbing, and any inappropriate challenge to these principles will be rectified as swiftly and thoroughly as possible,” she wrote in an email to the radio station. “Indeed, the administration applauds students for becoming involved in politics, making their voices known, and taking an active part in our democracy.”
In a letter to parents, Dyer wrote that “the high school administration was not aware of and does not condone any censorship of political views on the part of our students … The actions of the staff involved will be addressed as soon as the investigation is concluded.”
Berardo’s father, Joe Berardo, wants the district to issue an apology for the unnecessary censorship and to re-issue the yearbook without the edits.
“What I would expect from teachers is fair and unbiased instruction and discourse,” Joe Berardo said. “To discuss the pros and cons of politic positions, and encourage the free flow of ideas from both sides.
“This (censorship) doesn’t say that,” he said. “It says there is an agenda at work.”
Berardo vowed to follow the issue to ensure school officials ultimately do the right thing.
“There should also be consequences for the teacher who made the decision, if that’s, in fact, what happened,” he said. “And the school district should hold a public meeting to own up to it and discuss it.
“This is far from over,” Joe Berardo said.


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