This school year, a pregnant duchess and gay premier made headlines, but they may not make it into one public elementary school’s yearbook.

The two parents who create the yearbook at a Whitby school say administrators balked at the idea of mentioning Kate Middleton’s pregnancy and the Liberal leadership win of Kathleen Wynne, Canada’s first openly gay premier, among other news events, in the almanac.

They said the principal and vice-principal at Meadowcrest Public School objected to using the words “pregnant” and “gay,” fearing students would question what they meant.

“I never could have thought it would be a worry for anybody,” said Sarah Eddenden, one-half of the yearbook committee.

For three years, Eddenden and Lorisa Johnson-Kalk have been creating a yearbook for students at Meadowcrest. Instead of having parents pay extra for an insert detailing the year’s big news items, they include a sampling at the back of the book.

This year, they said they were told at a meeting by the school’s principal and vice-principal that four of the 11 items have no place in the yearbook. In addition to the Duchess of Cambridge’s pregnancy and Wynne’s victory, U.S. President Barack Obama’s re-election was said to be too political, and the cancellation of extracurricular activities and field trips in protest of Bill 115 was deemed to be too political and not happy enough.

On Friday, students, parents on the school community council (including Johnson-Kalk), teachers and administrators will meet to decide which events will be on the “Big News of 2012-2013” page, said Meadowcrest principal Michelle MacDonald.

She reiterated that “no decisions have been made” as yet regarding the page.

Johnson-Kalk said she was notified of the administration’s objection to the items by email two weeks ago.

In an email exchange last week, obtained by the Star, vice-principal Lisa Hill wrote to her, saying: “There needs to be context, teaching, for students if we put in the things about Kathleen Wynne, Dalton McGuinty, the political protest. If parents want to add those things into their child’s yearbook once they come home, they can.”

Hill then suggested replacing “Princess Kate is pregnant!” with “Prince William and Princess Kate are expecting a baby in (June)!” (The duchess doesn’t actually become a princess until her father-in-law, Prince Charles, inherits the throne.)

Hill earlier told Johnson-Kalk that she or MacDonald could remove the flagged items “if it is easier.”

Instead, 71 pages of the 72-page yearbook, excluding the controversial page, were sent to the printer last Wednesday, said Johnson-Kalk.

“Big News of 2012-2013” was to be on the penultimate page; the final page is reserved for autographs. If no page is sent in, Johnson-Kalk said she believes the printer will simply leave the page blank. Monday was the deadline to send in pages. Changes can be made after the deadline, at a cost.

MacDonald said Friday’s meeting will allow for more student input regarding the page’s content.

Both women, whose children attend the school, said they are disappointed, saddened and baffled by the opposition. They said they have never been asked to change any of the news items in the past, which have mentioned events such as Dalton McGuinty’s 2011 election win, the Occupy movement, and Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee.

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They say the students are taught to be “upstanders,” a word that refers to those who speak out when they see something they believe is wrong instead of doing nothing, like a bystander would.

“That’s what I’ve taught my children to be,” said Johnson-Kalk. “I thought the school they were going to really believed in that. It’s very sad now to know that (they don’t).”

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