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Derry Area HS bans senior's photo with hunting bow from yearbook inclusion

DERRY, Pa. — A Derry Area High School senior and her mother are speaking out after they say district officials refused to allow a photo of the student posing with her hunting bow in the school yearbook.

Lisa Bihon said that when she posted her daughter’s senior picture online, she didn't think it would get the response it did.

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Lisa Bihon said she submitted the photo of her daughter holding a bow to the yearbook section called "Ads for Grads," which is paid for by parents. She said archery is a sport her daughter loves and grew up doing with her dad.

"She's been doing it since she could walk. Her and her dad hunt. She's an avid hunter. She hunts deer, and it's the only sport she does,” Bihon said.

However, Bihon said she got a phone call from a teacher at Derry Area High School, saying she can't use that picture because her daughter's holding a weapon.

"I think it's wrong, and I think that everybody's taking it too far. It's not a weapon. She's not hurting anybody, and she should be allowed to have it in the yearbook,” Bihon said.

Derry school districts superintendent said it's an active situation and uses a past practice that no student can submit a picture with a weapon, but Bihon said she found a Derry Area High School yearbook from 2011 with a picture of a bow, with no arrow, in the ads page.

"Now that I went back in the yearbooks and found one, I don't understand why,” she said.

The superintendent said she was aware of the picture from 2011 and added that it will require some more investigating. She said she's keeping an open mind and could not say confidently right now that they could reverse their decision or if this incident could change the district’s policy on such images.

WPXI

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