A school district in central Nebraska is drawing fire after telling the parents of two students killed in a traffic accident that they can't buy space in the school yearbook to honor their children.
16-year-old Bailey Jean Packer and 17-year-old Navi Nielsen died last month in a crash in rural Howard County.
Friends and family think the Centura Junior/Senior High School district is being insensitive. Tara Schenk, whose family raised Bailey Packer since fourth grade, says they were also upset the district immediately removed from the school photographs and drawings done by Bailey.
District officials claim they are following policy and their training on student grieving. Superintendent Julie Otero said the expert they're following recommends districts remove photographs and clean out lockers of deceased students because adolescents need "finality" when grieving.