By Hayley Vaughn - NBC News
A Utah woman raised her voice after her sister was left out of the high school cheer squad yearbook photos.
Morgyn Arnold
, an eighth grader with Down syndrome, came home on the last day of class, discouraged and full of questions.
“Why wasn't she in the Shoreline Junior High School cheer squad photo?” Said her older sister Jordyn Poll.
The 14-year-old Morgyn was officially the team manager but attended practice, learned the routines and cheered alongside her other teammates at every home game, her sister said.
The Shoreline Junior High cheerleading team took two pictures for the yearbook:
one featured Morgyn,
center, wearing a purple T-shirt and a big smile;
in the other it did not appear.
The young woman was devastated when she learned that
the yearbook included the photo she was not in
and that that version had been used in other school and promotional materials, her sister said.
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"Everybody knows what it feels like to be left out," said Jordyn Poll.
"It's never a good feeling, so of course Morgyn was bummed," she added.
"I hope no one ever has to experience the anguish that occurs when the person they love comes home
from school
desolate
and shows you that they are not in the photo with their team. I hope no one ever has to explain why people deliberately chooses to be
exclusive, "
wrote Jordyn Poll, 25, on Facebook.
"There were two photos: one with Morgyn and one without her. A choice was made on which photo to present, a choice made MULTIPLE times and a choice that excluded Morgyn EVERY TIME."
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Shoreline Junior High School called the photo selection a mistake.
"We are deeply saddened by the mistake that was made,"
the school said in a statement on Facebook.
"We are continuing to discuss what happened and why it happened. Apologies have been made to the family and we sincerely apologize to others affected by this error. We will continue to discuss the matter with the student's parents. We will continue to review our processes to ensure this is true. Do not happen again".
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Jordyn Poll says her family does not believe that the decision to leave Morgyn out was intended to be malicious or discriminatory and that they have nothing but love for their teammates and their families.
"Morgyn could have chosen to be angry or upset, but instead she
chose to be understanding and forgiving
," Poll said.
"Those girls on the team are her friends and they have been incredibly supportive of all of this," she added.
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Morgyn and her family will meet with school administrators to discuss the situation and how to advocate for students with disabilities, Poll said.
"I think the important thing here is that we focus more on loving each other and being more inclusive," he said. "We can all learn from Morgyn in the way he handled this with such a positive attitude. ... We cannot continue to embarrass each other when mistakes are made. There is no room for shame in all of this."