SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8) — Yearbooks at a local middle school have to be recalled because the N-word made it on the cover.
Black Mountain Middle School staff and editors used a historical map which had the racial term on it.
It appears to be an innocent mistake according to a statement by the school's principal.
“This was an unfortunate inadvertent mistake on the part of our yearbook staff and yearbook advisor,” said Christine Paik, Poway Unified School District Communications Director.
They used a historical map from the 1800s of Northern San Diego County.
“On that map there was a reference to a place where a freed slave was known to reside, and it had a name, which now, is a derogatory racial slur," Paik said.
“We were upset to find that that made it on the cover of the yearbook.”
It was only the 8th graders who received the yearbooks on Monday, they were all supposed to be brought back to school on Tuesday.
The 6th and 7th graders hadn’t been given the yearbooks yet.
“Approximately 1,000 yearbooks then were corrected," said Paik. "Literally staff went through each yearbook and scratched off that word from the cover, so that we can get these yearbooks in time to our kids."
News 8's Eric Kahnert spoke to some parents and grandparents about the mistake.
“In this community, maybe some people will be offended,” said father of a student Al Sanchez.
“I think it was an honest mistake I don’t think it was meant to harm anybody," Mark Guss, a grandparent said.
“It’s unfortunate that it happened, sounds like the district is taking right measures to get it fixed," said father Scott Grider.
The staff were scratching off that term Tuesday night and hope to have the yearbooks ready to be distributed to all grades Wednesday morning.