Yearbook photos for 583 McKinney High School students were altered by Lifetouch National School Studios Inc., Eden Prairie, Minn., reports an article in The Dallas Morning News. Some girls’ heads ended up on boys’ bodies, and vice versa. Some necks were stretched, and some outfits were altered.
McKinney school officials in McKinney, Texas, say they are appalled by the changes and called them unethical, says the article. “I cannot even figure out why they did some of the things that they did,” said Lori Oglesbee, the school’s yearbook adviser.
The problem photos are obvious. One girl’s arm is missing. Another girl is missing her clothing and was left with a blurred chest. Multiple students have the same body and clothes. Some shirt colors were changed, while patterns and wording on other shirts were wiped out. At least 34 students had someone else’s body, says the article.
Officials from Lifetouch, the Minnesote.-based photography company, said someone at the company made the alterations in an attempt to comply with the school’s photo guidelines. The school wanted student head sizes approximately the same and students’ eyes at the same level in the photos.
“Unfortunately, we misinterpreted what those guidelines were,” said Sara Thurin Rollin, a spokeswoman for Lifetouch.
“It is not the Lifetouch standard practice to alter images for yearbook publications,” the company said.
But McKinney school officials said that they weren’t looking for those types of alterations, and it doesn’t explain why some of the changes were made. “There’s somewhat of an issue with accepting responsibility,” McKinney school spokesman Cody Cunningham said.
Lifetouch has agreed to pay to reprint all the yearbooks, Cunningham said. It will cost the company $85,000 to reprint 1,100 yearbooks, reports The Dallas Morning News.
About 39 percent of the 1,486 photos were changed, reports The Dallas Morning News. The vast majority of altered photos were of underclassmen, but several senior photos also appear to have been changed, school officials said.
Oglesbee said that her staff maintains high standards for the award-winning yearbook and that there was no justification for changing the photos. She said the yearbook staff would spend the weekend at the school, working to rebuild the yearbook for reprinting, says the article.


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