Cheerleading team manager with Down syndrome excluded from photo in school yearbook

(CNN) – The family of a Utah teenager with Down syndrome said they are grateful for the support she received from friends and the community after not being included in the cheerleading team photo used in her school’s yearbook.

Morgyn Arnold, 14, was the manager of Shoreline Junior High School’s cheerleading team, her father, Jeffrey Arnold, told CNN. She attended games, cheered, and participated in other activities to boost school spirit, she said.

She posed for a photo with the team and was sitting in the middle of the front row, her father said. When she received her yearbook on the last day of eighth grade, she realized they used a different photograph that did not include it, according to the child’s father.

“He came in and showed it to me, said ‘I’m not here, but these are my friends and I love them,'” Jeffrey Arnold told CNN.

A photo of the cheer team without Morgyn was used for the yearbook. CNN intentionally deleted the image due to the age of the people in the image.

The Davis School District he apologized in a statement.

“We are deeply saddened by the mistake that was made. We continue to analyze what happened and why it happened. The family has been apologized and we sincerely apologize to others affected by this error. We will continue to do so with the student’s parents. We will continue to review our processes to ensure this does not happen again, ”the statement said.

Arnold said he has had positive conversations with school officials since the yearbook came out and hopes they can take steps to make sure this doesn’t happen to Morgyn or any other member of the school again. He said he did not want to point the finger or talk about who was responsible.

“I am optimistic about the empathic conversations that began to take place to help generate change and ensure that this does not happen again,” he said.

Since the yearbook came out, Arnold said the other girls on the team have joined Morgyn.

She said cheerleaders and their families have had to deal with some “very mean and nasty comments” on social media, and she begs people to stop.

“The enthusiasm and display of love from the girls, these cheerleaders, just shows very clearly that these cheerleaders were Morgyn’s friends, they included her and continue to be and they were so disappointed to see this,” Arnold said.

“They are showing, through their example, the proper way to support and help in situations like this and others make it worse with their hatred and resentment of their comments.”

Arnold said that Morgyn would go back to school next year for the ninth grade, but said he didn’t know if she would be involved with cheerleaders.

CNN’s Chris Boyette contributed to this report.