Yearbook reprinted after goof-up on its cover
Publisher will replace copies with misspelling of the school’s name
A reminder about the importance of a thorough proofreading arrived at the homes of Northampton Area School District students this week.
The cover of the 2019 high school yearbook, which features an opened padlock with an array of student names, includes a misspelled title: “Northhampton Class of 2019.”
Superintendent Joseph Kovalchik said the text was a last-minute addition to the cover after the proofs were already submitted to the company, Student Services of Norristown, for printing.
Kovalchik said a yearbook adviser called the company to add the words after determining the cover needed something extra to take up the empty space. The extra “h” was noticed only after the yearbooks were shipped to between 500 and 550 students and families who ordered copies.
“It was just a human error,” Kovalchik said.
“I don’t really want to blame anybody.”
Student Services will be reissuing the yearbooks to all those who purchased a copy, he said. This was the first year the books were mailed directly home, Kovalchik said.
As the superintendent prepares the district for the start of the school Monday, he said the spelling hiccup was thankfully an innocuous problem that is easy to remedy.
Though a spelling error on the cover of the yearbook may be embarrassing, it’s less of a headache than other high school yearbook incidents in recent years.
The 2010 Easton Area High School yearbook included a quote from Adolf Hitler, leading administrators to change the way the school proofreads publications. In 2003, the school’s yearbook included a racial slur and two sexual vulgarities, written in reverse, under photos of two varsity football players and
on the title of the page.
In 2014, a yearbook at the Pocono Mountain School District was so riddled with spelling and date errors that it prompted the school district to take a $17,000 hit and reissue the book.
Kovalchik said the company intended to reissue the books at no cost to the district. New, corrected copies should arrive at the homes of students in another few weeks.
A representative of Student Services couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.