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Suspended Tate High Yearbook Editor Will Be Allowed To Walk At Graduation
May 29, 2021
Tate High School yearbook editor Samantha Guerrier will be allowed to walk at graduation on June 7.
Guerrier was suspended for the way a photo in the yearbook was altered, and that was going to prevent her from taking part in graduation.
The photo (below) shows the face of expelled student Emily Grover covered with clipart of a horse that resembles the school’s mascot. The horse’s rear-end was used to cover Grover’s face, and that led to the yearbooks being recalled. Grover and her mother were accused by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement with hacking hundreds of student accounts to fraudulently cast homecoming queen votes.
Guerrier said she was instructed by her teacher to edit the photo, and the yearbook sponsor and principal were ultimately responsible for reviewing the yearbook pages before publication and distribution.
“First and foremost, I would like to thank God for taking control of this entire situation and keeping my head up for the last week and a half,” Guerrier posted on social media Friday night. “I would like to thank my parents and family for being relentless and doing everything in their power to bring awareness to my story. They worked around the clock, morning and night, doing everything they could to right this wrong. I would also like to thank all of those who signed, supported, shared, and advocated on my behalf. I could not be more grateful for all of the unconditional support that my community has shown for me.”
With a GPA over 5.0 Guerrier is an honors graduate, ranked number 18 in the Tate High Class of 2021.
An online petition “Let Samantha graduate” had over 6,200 signatures as of early Saturday morning
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Comments
43 Responses to “Suspended Tate High Yearbook Editor Will Be Allowed To Walk At Graduation”
Congratulations Samantha!!! ♥
Honors classes, Advanced Placement (AP) classes, dual enrollment(college) classes, etc. gets you above 4.0 GPA. Bonus points, for taking the harder, more advanced courses. Instead of just taking the basic general classes.
Only curious. Says she has a gpa of over 5.0. When I was in school, straight a’s got u a 4.0. How do you get above a 4.0? Not trying to put her down at all. I just don’t understand. Use to be 4.0 was perfect.
Now, I have no confidence in the leadership of Tate High School.
The state of Florida needs to investigate the goings on at Tate, and not just this “incident”
The other things being pawned off on students…but we dont want to talk about that. “We are hoping summer will white wash this leadership so next school year hopefully everyone will have forgotten. NOT!
Now that the truth has come out about the involvement of school staff and leadership in this little photo file adventure what action will the school board take regarding conduct unbecoming of their employees ……. No action is to condone the behavior…. We are all watching
There is a leadership problem at Tate !! The principle is not a bad person just been there to long and has got to comfortable!! Time for a change !!
I remember my years at Tate, faculty involved in adulterous relationships, faculty marrying students, coaches running students in deadly temperatures, no drinking water, a nightmare.
I remember JM Tate High School, June of 1976, I stopped off at the office and picked up my diploma. I left that place, never went back, never looked back.
I am glad that this young lady will not be scapegoated. If she were my daughter, I would have seated some individuals; and spoke to them regarding life and the matter at hand.
I personally think the Principle has other things to do besides edit a yearbook, isn’t there a yearbook staff editor?? Not really sure the Principle has much to do with this….but I do believe the pic should have been in the yearbook as it was originally intended.
Question…she was givin the chance to walk because the teacher and principal was aware before print of the yearbook. They acted as if no one knew anything about it…the old “Thank you for bringing it to our attention skit”
They threw that child under the bus. That tells you what unethical immoral people the teacher and principal are…Class of 1954…when teachers taught and real men were principals.
These two in my book need to seek employment..not with any children.
Shameful!!!
IF everyone was edited out of the school yearbook for doing something wrong and unacceptable, NOONE would be in the yearbook teachers/staff included. Judgement belongs to the Lord and the Lord alone. I feel this young lady should be able to graduate with her class though. That is absurd not allowing her to do so. Allowing her to take the complete fall for the poor choice is indeed not fair. However, cant help but ask IF this had been an African American student edited out by a white American student we would have a whole DIFFERENT situation all together. Either way is irrelevant. Unless you walk on water….careful about your criticism and judgment.
Could have just left the picture out completely
Did OJ Simpson get removed from the pro football hall of fame after being arrested? This girl deserves due process too.
Why was the picture edited to begin with. The girl has not been convicted of anything as of now. INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY.
If she is acquitted there is no way to go back and remove the horse icon in the yearbook. The yearbook never should have been altered. Incase she is convicted any student who feels she should not be in yearbook can take a sharpie and edit the photo anyway they like
This extremely bright young lady understood fully well what the teacher/principal had in mind when they instructed her to edit the picture. Her and some friends probably had a good laugh over the prank with the horse‘s behind. the school was forced to refund yearbook monies to some overly sensitive students /parents, so they had to show that some punitive action was taken. We all need to lighten up , move on and stop creating problems where there are none.
Sooo happy this young lady will be able to graduate and walk with her peers. She committed no crime and the administration at THS once AGAIN comes under scrutiny for bad and irresponsible decisions. If the county knew if the other things that are covered up at THS ol’ Rick Shackle would be in an unemployment line where he’s belonged for a LONG time. Admin that attempted a coverup for the now FORMER prom Queen should be looking for jobs too. Sadly they’ll probably be promoted for it because that’s how the district operates for some folks. Congrats to ALL the grads who are getting out of that place, prayers for the remaining students.
Way to make a bad situation worse. Tate was a victim until they decided to drop the hammer for a funny G rated joke. Now the administration deserves to be lumped in with the wrong side. Did the teachers who are ultimately responsible for the editing get punished?(I don’t think they should)
GOOD!!!!!
Agree that the original photos should have NEVER been altered.
They are HISTORY of these kid’s lives and need to stay as they happened.
Whoever decided to Change things was just Flat out Wrong.
Like many other things, trying to remove or erase History does not mean it didn’t happen.
“Queen” and her mom need to face the courts due to their misuse of position and without consent prying into kid’s records.
School Board and Superintendent need to revisit their rules concerning who can access Districtwide records of Students and Staff.
FOCUS is not the ideal perfect system for maintaining student records, scheduling, grades or anything else.
100% Agree , Shakle needs to be held accountable, TIME FOR HIM TO GO
Just another black
eye for Tate………..SAD
I am so happy for her. The adults who let her take the rap for what they told her to do should be fired. Shame on them!
mnon on May 29th, 2021 5:06 am
She has a bright future in journalism, maybe working for CNN. They like to blame others for their poor editing.
If she has a bright future in journalism I hope she doesn’t consider CNN. There is nothing but liberal blather coming from there.
That’s Great !!!
I for one believe the original picture should have been left alone. What happened happened doesn’t change whether she was in the yearbook or not.
The brunt of this should have never rested solely on a student. Where is the teacher who does yearbook???? She should be the one on the block…apparently she lets the kids do it all without any checks and balances. She should be in charge and she should have a new job next year and not be over the yearbook!
Congrats
With God all things are possible! May God continue to bless you! You deserve all of God’s blessings.
Every good and perfect gift comes from God!! With Yahweh on your side, all things are possible. May continue to bless you!!
Congratulations
She should have went over the heads of the adults that “instructed her to do it”. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Hopefully this was a lesson learned for her.
So I don’t know the whole story-……Who had the original IDEA to edit did the photo in the first place? And did the instructor really tell the girl to edit the photo like that? If so-what happened to the teacher? What did the teacher and staff have to say about all of this?
Tate High School Principal should be demoted to grounds keeper or janitor after this debacle.
Good on YOU, Samantha!!! You Shine, compared to the actual “adults” in this
case. I can tell from your response to this that you should NOT have been held
responsible for the GROSS errors of the “Management” at both Tate High School
and the School Board itself. Hold your head UP girl, you did only what you could
have accomplished in the time available prior to the yearbook to be sent
off to the publisher.
I expect to hear more on this case about the mismanagement of those in-charge
of both the publishing of the yearbook and the wrong decisions as to whom to
blame for the problem in the first place. If there is blame to be assigned to this
I hope that the THS principal gets a fair share and that Samantha gets a formal apology from those in charge.
She also deserves to have her suspension revoked AND a public apology. She was very mistreated.
Praise God!
I am glad you get to walk. I hate that your years @ THS were marred. This school has been an embarrassment in multiple cases over the last few years. Such a sadness for this teen. Move on, move up in the world. GOOD LUCK.
She never should have been charged and punished in the first place!! I am shocked that parents are more upset about this, than the fact that the mother/daughter accessed the entire class’s records to change vote. THEY committed a crime…DISgusting…and all for a few minutes of (worthless) glory!
This is great news. No high school on this planet lets students do a yearbook without the yearbook teacher and principal approving of the content. I am happy her parents, and the community rallied on her behalf. You go girl with that high GPA.
Stop editing things that happened. The adults put this young lady in this situation. This photo should have been published as it was taken. Let those who purchase it decide what to do with it.
Congratulations Samantha!
Suspension was a crappy penalty. The adult that oversees the yearbook project is just as culpable as she.
In my day, Dean Harris would have put three on my backside and I would have learned my lesson (kind of).
Good Job Samantha, don’t let this nonsense take you down. My hat is off to you. God Bless
..Congratulations Samantha , and to your family and friends who all did the right things…The vast majority of folks want fairness and justice…You will achieve great things in your future..May God continue to Bless you..
First and foremost, Congratulations to Samantha!
Secondly, if the mascot clipart had been positioned in any other way, it would have covered one of the other girls.
Shame on the school for suspending Samantha in the first place. I’m sure there are far more important problems at Tate that need attention than this. Was the principal punished in any way for not catching this supposed problem. Can we please get back to using some plain old common sense?
She has a bright future in journalism, maybe working for CNN. They like to blame others for their poor editing.
Bless her heart. What shame the ‘leadership’ has brought to the school. Grown adults punishing this young lady who is an example of academic excellence. The principal should be held accountable. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. It’s either a conspiracy to deface this other girl, or incompetence by an educator to perform a basic function to edit a yearbook. Either way, the final product, this blame lies with the principle. Just shameful. Hold your head high young lady. Don’t let these disgraceful adults dim your day in the spotlight. You deserve it.
Shame on Tate High School powers that be… You all who jumped to conclusions first Should Be Fired forthwith. Been in school systems in Florida for years. You don’t jump to conclusions … Investigate slowly. These are impressionable young adults. Yes … You adults should treat them as such not damage their perspective of what older should-be-adults are to portray. So happy she’s mature and forgiving with a Christian loving heart perspective. You go far sweet gal