SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8) — News 8 was recently contacted by the mother of a senior at Otay Ranch High School who says the mistake of leaving her son's photo out of the yearbook - and how it's being handled - has been disheartening, leaving her son with anything but good memories.
"I looked at a couple of friends' yearbooks and my picture wasn't there and I was confused," said Kobe Diaz.
Kobe was later called by the yearbook teacher and told it was the yearbook company's error and he would receive a free senior edition with his picture and portrait stickers to put in friends' yearbooks.
"Me not being in the yearbook, I feel that I have left nothing good for the school," said Kobe. "I'm not even part of the school itself."
The football and lacrosse player and top scholar went home and reported the news to his mother Lourdes Diaz.
"I said, 'no, no, no, that is not acceptable, no,'" said Lourdes.
The yearbook teacher called her and told her the same thing he told Kobe.
"I said, 'no, how dare you?'" said Lourdes.
Lourdes wants a reprint.
"I want him to be there," she said. "That is a memory of a lifetime."
News 8 reached out to the school district spokesperson, Manuel Rubio, for a comment. His full statement on the matter is below:
This week we learned that 5 students at Otay Ranch High (population of approx. 2,500) had their class picture left out of the yearbook. This was an error on the part of the company who took the photos and the yearbook company – Walsworth Yearbooks. When we found out personal calls were made to each of the 5 students and their families.
The school principal and yearbook advisor did a great job of pushing the company on this error and they managed to get a resolution. The resolution will include a reprint of the yearbook for each of these students that they will receive next week. The students will be refunded their money for the yearbook and each of them will receive 100 peel-off stickers with their picture that can be inserted to their friends’ yearbooks.
We are very sorry that this error was made, but we are also glad that the manufacturer and the school could work together to find a quick resolution to this.
"It's not the right thing to do, because I am not in everyone's yearbooks and I feel left out," said Kobe. "I feel non-existent to some point."