Trump thanks Wall teens for 'standing up' to yearbook censorship

Mike Davis | Asbury Park Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Was this student's Trump T-shirt censored in the yearbook? Grant Berardo, a Wall High School junior, saw his image digitally altered with a plain black T-shirt in his yearbook.

WALL - The scandal over censorship of students' Donald Trump merchandise and quotations in the Wall High School yearbook has reached the White House.

Trump and the director of his presidential campaign thanked Wall High School students Montana and Wyatt Dobrovich-Fago, who spoke out when a Trump quote was omitted and a Trump campaign logo was cropped out of their class yearbooks.

The Trump campaign also sent the teenagers a care package with shirts, hats, pins and patches. The president himself took note of the controversy:

"Thank you Wyatt and Montana — two young Americans who aren’t afraid to stand up for what they believe in. Our movement to #MAGA is working because of great people like you!," Trump posted on Facebook.

THE LATEST: Wall HS to get new yearbooks after Trump shirt censorship

In a letter, campaign executive director Michael Glassner commended the students for "voicing their support" for Trump.

"It is more important than ever that we, as Americans, stand up for our beliefs and hopes for a better country," Glassner wrote. "And, as you know, it takes courage to do so. But freedom of expression should never go out of style — let's not forget that!"

On the school's picture day, Wyatt, a junior at the school, wore a sweater vest featuring a Trump campaign logo. But in the published yearbook, his photo was cropped and the logo was barely visible — an act Superintendent Cheryl Dyer has ruled was not intentional.

His sister, Montana, picked a quote from Trump to run alongside her photo, in a section memorializing her role as freshman class president: "I like thinking big. If you are going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big," Trump's quote read.

Traditionally, all Wall class presidents can pick a quote. It's not yet clear whether it was purposely excluded, Dyer said last week.

Another student, junior Grant Berardo, saw his picture digitally altered before being published in the yearbook. Instead of the navy blue Trump campaign shirt he wore during the photo shoot, his yearbook photo featured a nondescript black T-shirt — an "intentional" alteration, Dyer ruled.

FLASHBACK: Wall teen's Trump shirt censored in yearbook

The school board on Tuesday voted to formalize a suspension handed down to digital media teacher Susan Parsons, who Dyer suspended through the end of the school year last week.

The board is expected to continue discussing the case in executive session at future meetings, board attorney Michael Gross said.

Parsons, 62, was included on a list of re-hired teachers for the 2017-18 school year with a $92,000 salary, but that list was finalized before the yearbook censorship came to light.

She has not returned multiple calls to her home seeking comment.

In response to the censorship scandal, Dyer last week ordered new yearbooks to be printed and reissued. Private, anonymous donors have contributed "at least $10,000" to cover the cost, Dyer said after Tuesday's board meeting.

But some members of the Wall school community have said it's not enough. Some students and parents have questioned Dyer's objectivity and ability to investigate the matter fairly, because she shared a New York Times article last year that linked school bullying with coarse language by Trump on the campaign trail.

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Wyatt Dobrovich-Fago also criticized Dyer for the "blatant anti-Trump stuff that's caused concern" for him.

"I feel like there's something else to the story. One person wouldn't just do this," Wyatt said. "There needs to be a proper investigation into this."

In a previous interview, Dyer admitted that posting the article was a mistake but did so after multiple bullying incidents involving students quoting or inspired by Trump.

In one instance, a student told a Hispanic child that “she’s going to be sent back to Mexico.”

“I wanted parents to be aware of this, to ask for their help and talk to their kids about respectful disagreements,” she said.

School Board President Allison Connolly disagreed, applauding Dyer and district administrators for "facing this situation head-on."

"We find the allegations of censorship disturbing and are taking the charges that students have had their rights compromised seriously," she said.

Mike Davis: 732-643-4223; mdavis@gannettnj.com