Public Comment for CHCCS Board Meeting 6.4.26 - Belonging Should Never Be an Afterthought
Krista Caraway
Good evening.
My name is Krista Caraway. I am a former special education teacher, disability advocate, author, guardian, and parent of CHCCS graduates.
What happened in the Chapel Hill High School yearbook did not happen in isolation.
Years ago, my own son was omitted from an elementary school yearbook. In January 2021, I sent district leadership a detailed email identifying concerns about disability inclusion, belonging, visibility, and the ways disabled students were too often treated as separate from the larger school community.
I wasn’t complaining. I was offering help.
I was an educator pointing out gaps in procedures I could see and as a parent sharing lived experience.
Over the years, I attended meetings, sent emails, served on advisory groups and commissions, and advocated through every channel available to me because I believed this district wanted to do better.
Yet here we are.
Last year, disabled graduates and all EC AC students were omitted at ECHHS. This year, twelve plus disabled students were omitted from the Chapel Hill High School yearbook.
When the same concern is raised repeatedly by families, educators, advocates, and disabled people themselves, it becomes a pattern.
A yearbook is more than paper. It is a record that says, “You were here. You belonged here. You mattered here.”
Today, I am asking the Board to take a simple first step:
Please recall the yearbooks currently in circulation.
It has been brought to your attention that these books are causing harm. Once harm has been identified, we have a responsibility to stop perpetuating it.
I am also asking for a public apology, transparency regarding how this happened, and a concrete plan to ensure it never happens again.
My hope is not punishment.
My hope is accountability, repair, and a school system where every student knows they belong as well as one parents trust.
Thank you.
- Krista Zelt Caraway @ Unapologetic Mercy https://a.co/07puQsdH