A Muslim teenager says she “disgusted” after being misidentified as “Isis Phillips” in a yearbook photo of her wearing a hijab.
Bayan Zehlif, who attends Los Osos High School in California, posted the yearbook photo on Facebook May 7, and said she was “hurt and embarrassed,” by the incident.
“Apparently I am "Isis" in the yearbook,” Zehlif wrote. “The school reached out to me and had the audacity to say that this was a typo. I beg to differ, let's be real.”
The school’s principal, Susan Petrocelli, called the "mix-up" a “regrettable misprint,” in a tweet on Saturday.
LOHS is taking every step possible to correct & investigate a regrettable misprint discovered in the yearbook. We sincerely apologize.
— Susan Petrocelli (@LosOsosHigh) May 8, 2016
“LOHS is taking every possible step to correct and investigate a regrettable misprint discovered in the yearbook,” Petrocelli said on Twitter. “we sincerely apologize.”
The school’s yearbook staff also tweeted an apology, noting that they should have checked the names in the yearbook more carefully.
In the statement, the yearbook staff maintains that it was an inexcusable mistake, but not done with malice.
— LOHS Yearbook (@LosOsosYearbook) May 7, 2016
Chaffey Joint Union High School District Supt. Mat Holton told the Los Angeles Timesthat Zehlif was misidentified as a former student named Isis. He told the Times that administration was notified of the incident after 287 yearbooks were distributed to high school seniors.
He said students were asked to return the yearbooks, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Hussam Ayloush of The Council on American-Islamic Relations said in a statement Sunday that "no student should have to face the humiliation of being associated with a group as reprehensible as ISIS," KABC-TV reported.
"We join with the family in their concern about a possible bias motive for this incident and in the deep concern for their daughter's safety as a result of being falsely labeled as a member of a terrorist group," Ayloush said.
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