By Peg McEntee

SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) - A Utah high school has drawn criticism from parents of students who attend a special needs program at the school after it left them out of the school's 2015 yearbook, both sides said on Tuesday.

The yearbook for Blue Peaks High School in Tooele, a city about 40 miles (64 km) east of Salt Lake City, did not include pictures of 17 special needs students who attended a transition program at the school.

Leslee Bailey, whose 21-year-old daughter, Amber, has Down syndrome and was among the special needs students left out of the yearbook, said her daughter was initially upset by not seeing her photo in the yearbook but nevertheless had her friends sign the book.

Bailey said past yearbooks at the school had included students from her daughter's program but that she was told this year the decision was made to exclude the special needs students because of a lack of pages.

On Tuesday, Bailey said she appreciated the work done at the transitional program, despite the decision not to include the pictures. "I am upset but I'll get over it," she said in a phone interview.

Scott Rogers, superintendent of the Tooele County School District, confirmed the yearbook this year did not include the 17 special needs students in a transitional program at Blue Peaks High.

He said it was "just a change, not an exclusion" that was made because the transitional program was separated from the rest of the high school.

"They're in their post-high school years and they're really not students” of the high school, Rogers said, adding that the transition program created its own digital yearbook, which included Amber and the other 16 graduates.

(Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis and Bill Trott)