A mother of five in Nevada is enraged after discovering that her son and several other special education students were left out of their school yearbook. The mother, Mariela Azarpira, said there were at least 10 special education students, including her son, Samir, left out of this year's yearbook for Northwest Career and Technical Academy in Las Vegas. Special education students have reportedly not appeared in past issues of the school's yearbook either.
Special education advocates Lori and Sig Rogich are also infuriated and getting involved, asking for the US Department of Education Office for Civil rights to investigate, reported People.
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'It's like they didn’t even exist,' the mother said.
Azarpira’s son Amir was born with a neurological disorder called hydrocephalus and is also on the autism spectrum, per People. Amir, 22, started attending NWCTA in the fall of 2021 and is scheduled to complete the PACE program by the end of this summer, the outlet reported.
Amir is the youngest of Mariela’s five children and she describes him as sociable, loveable, and cherished, per the Daily Mail. “I got his yearbook, and they’re not even mentioned," Mariela told local news station KLAS-TV, reported People. "It’s like they didn’t even exist. It’s like for them, they didn’t matter. It wasn’t important for [NWCTA] to recognize them.”
The school principal offered a refund on the yearbook, but the mother just wanted inclusion for her son and the other students.
The principal at NWCTA, Laura Willis, apologized to Amir’s mother through email, calling the incident “unfortunate,” per Daily Mail. Willis wrote: “It is unfortunate that we failed to represent all that they do and bring to our campus. There are no excuses, just human error. I will ensure that this does not happen in the future.”
The Clark County School District also acknowledged the incident. “The school is reviewing the yearbook layout for future years to consider the addition of members of the school community enrolled in pre or post-graduation programs on campus,” they wrote, per Daily Mail.
Willis also tried to offer Amir’s mother a refund for the $90 yearbook, but she reportedly declined, per People. “I don’t want the money back. I want them to include all the children because it’s so important. Because if the school includes them, all of the parents are going to learn.”
Education advocates are calling for the school district to be investigated for its treatment of special education students.
Lori Rogich, an education advocate, wants the Clark County School District investigated by the US Department of Education Office for Civil Rights for its treatment of its special needs students, per Daily Mail. She said, "The emerging picture is one in which students with special needs were intentionally set aside and hidden. These students work hard to receive an education and are part of our community. The district's disregard of their existence is just hard to comprehend.”
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Twitter users were just as furious as the mother over the school's apparent discrimination against special education students.
People shared the news story on Twitter and several users jumped in to empathize with the mother and point out that including Amir and the other students would not have been difficult to do. Others pointed out that this problem has been around for a long time.
“They were doing this when I was a kid," one user wrote. "Sucks, but it’s nothing new.”
“Sue them Mom!” another suggested.
“It sounds petty and mean," commented another. "They include all the kids all the office workers, lunch people and housekeeping everybody that was there all year goes in the book. Jesus it’s easy.”
