Trump Thanks Wall Teens For Speaking Out On Yearbook Censorship

WALL, NJ — Two of the Wall Township teens who reported their entries in the 2017 Wall High School yearbook were censored have received praise from President Donald Trump on social media.

Wyatt and Montana Dobrovich-Fago received a letter and a box of Trump hats, T-shirts and other items along with a letter from Michael Glassner, executive director of the Trump campaign, praising the two for speaking out and for supporting the president.

Trump then posted photos of Wyatt with the box of campaign items and a photo of the letter, saying, "Thank you Wyatt and Montana — two young Americans who aren’t afraid to stand up for what they believe in. Our movement to #MAGA is working because of great people like you!"

Wyatt Dobrovich-Fago, a junior at Wall High School, is one of two teens who said their Trump clothing was censored. Grant Berardo, also a junior, who was wearing a Trump T-shirt for his school photo, opened the yearbook to find his shirt had been Photoshopped to remove the Trump logo emblazoned across the front. Montana Dobrovich-Fago, a freshman, had a Trump quote that was supposed to be below her photo omitted.

>> READ MORE: Censoring Of Wall Teen's Trump T-Shirt In Yearbook Under Investigation

The controversy has led to the suspension of yearbook adviser Susan Parsons, a suspension that was formalized Tuesday night at the Wall Township Board of Education meeting, according to a report in the Asbury Park Press.

>> READ MORE: Wall Yearbook Adviser Suspended Over Trump T-shirt Censorship

It also has led to the yearbooks being reprinted for all students who purchased the books this year.

While Berardo's T-shirt gained the most attention during the censorship investigation, Wyatt Dobrovich-Fago says he was wearing a sweater vest with the Trump logo on the pocket, which was censored as well. Montana Dobrovich-Fago, who is president of the freshman class, said a quote from Trump that was to appear with her photo — each class president has a quote under their photos — was missing, despite turning her selection in on time. The Trump quote she chose, according to the Asbury Park Press, reads: "I like thinking big. If you are going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big."

Wall Superintendent Cheryl Dyer, who suspended Parsons, said the censoring of Berardo's T-shirt was clearly intentional, but the cropping of Wyatt Dobrovich-Fago's vest appeared to fall into the parameters of crops on all students' photos. She said she did not have an answer that satisfied her on the omission of Montana Dobrovich-Fago's quote, however. "I do not have a definitive answer on whether it was an oversight, carelessness, or intentional," she said in a letter that went to Wall High School students and their parents announcing the plan to reprint the books.

>> READ MORE: Wall High School Reprinting Trump-Censored Yearbook: Superintendent

Dyer, in an email to the Patch Wednesday, said the reprint will cost about $10,000, with the cost being covered by donors instead of taxpayer dollars.

Dyer said the decision to reprint the books was the result of several issues found during the investigation of the censorship, including the omission of the student officers' photos for the sophomore class and a senior's photo where the student's eyes were closed but other photos were available with the student's eyes open. No estimates on the cost have been released.

Joseph Berardo Jr., Grant Berardo's father, told NJ 101.5 that he was pleased with how the investigation was being handled.

Wyatt Dobrovich-Fago, however, has voiced frustration over Dyer's investigation, first in an interview with the Coast Star following the Wall Township Committee meeting last week and again last night at the school board meeting, according to the Asbury Park Press report. The student said he felt Dyer could not be impartial based on a November controversy over an op-ed piece from the New York Times that Dyer shared on the district's website. The opinion piece, titled "Bullying in the Age of Trump," highlighted more than 430 incidents of harassment directed at minorities in the first 10 days following Trump's election.

Dyer last week told Patch she shared the piece in the wake of some "very disturbing" cases of bullying at the middle school.

"We had kids being told they were going to be sent back to Mexico," Dyer said, as well as harassment over whom students had supported in the election. "I had children going home on buses crying" because of the bullying," she said.

The posting of the opinion piece was a violation of district policy because it was an opinion piece, Dyer said. It was meant only to bring attention to the issue of bullying, she said, with the goal of reminding everyone there are respectful ways to disagree. Some parents took it as Dyer expressing opposition for Trump; she pulled the link to the opinion piece from the district's website and apologized, she said.

"I am not anti-Trump," Dyer said last week. "I am anti-bullying. I am also anti-censorship."

Photos via Donald J. Trump's official Facebook page