The Frisch School injects politics into student yearbook

The private Frisch School in Paramus, New Jersey – where tuition for the 2021-22 school year is $26,450 – surprised families when the yearbook included a page to “black Americans who were wrongfully killed by police.”

According to the Jewish News Service, “The page was written in the form of an open letter, signed by the student editors of the yearbook. It was addressed to people such as George Floyd, Michael Brown and Eric Garner, and ended with a call to the class of 2021: ‘Let’s change the world for the better.'”

The article notes:

The reaction was immediate. “Right away, kids started ripping the page out,” one senior said. “Others were blacking it all out with sharpies.” According to the student, no one knew this page would be a part of the yearbook, but seeing the names of the signatories, no one was surprised either. “Everyone knows their politics. They are trying to speak for us,” he said with resentment, “but no one I know liked it.” He and his friends say they disagree with the letter and its claims. But perhaps more objectionable is the license given to a handful of students to use the class yearbook to voice their personal political views. “This was about them, not us,” he said.

In response, a group of Frisch parents posted a paid advertisement in the Jewish Link on June 10, 2021, echoing the phrasing of the yearbook but sending a different message.