Family, school district reach compromise over yearbook

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A Hampton family has found “middle ground” with a local school district in its bid to have their son included in this year’s Hampton High School yearbook.

In a post to the social media group ‘Allow Carson Hoyt’s memorial in the HHS yearbook’ it is stated the family met with the Anglophone South School District (ASD-S) and “a middle ground has been met. Carson will appear in his 2024 Hampton High School Yearbook… not as a memorial as hoped, but he will be in there.”

The family of Carson Hoyt, who died by suicide at the age of 15 after completing Grade 9 at Hampton High School, launched a petition earlier this year urging the school for a memorial to be included in this year’s yearbook as it would be Carson’s graduating year. The school district, however, said a memorial would not appear in the yearbook though pictures of Carson would be included.

Jessica Hanlon, director of communications for ASD-S, told Brunswick News Friday via email “Carson was already included in the yearbook in three places (class composites and some candids/group photos with friends). We have added two additional candid pictures on a photos-compilation page,” noting Carson’s mother, Amy, provided the additional photographs.

“Our concern has always been a memorial feature, for the reasons we have cited, and there are no memorials in this yearbook. We’re pleased that the addition of these photos has brought this to a resolution, which is what we all wanted. We will continue to prioritize the safety of our students and follow best practices in suicide prevention,” Hanlon added.

Previously, Hanlon told Brunswick News the district is “currently developing a comprehensive crisis response policy which will include a section on memorials. Until that document is complete, we use the guidance from the National Association of School Psychologists.”

That guidance speaks specifically to memorials for students who have died by suicide and notes boards should not “make a permanent memorial following a suicide” and “choose memorials that are temporary, nonrenewable, or in the form of a ‘living’ memorial (e.g., monetary donation to charity or research, purchase of a suicide prevention program for students).” The guidance says those types of memorials will positively affect surviving students as opposed to “glorifying the students that died by suicide, which increases the risk that others will copy the act.”

The petition and the media attention it garnered prompted New Brunswick’s education minister, Bill Hogan, to weigh in, noting he hoped the school district and the Hoyt family could work together to have Carson included in the yearbook.

Amy Hoyt was not available to speak to Brunswick News but, in the social media post, it was noted “the struggle the last few weeks has taken a toll on our mental health and family life.”