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Teen mom banned? Kaitlin Tiller's photo not allowed in yearbook

Kaitlin Tiller, the teen mom whose photo was banned from her school's yearbook, just wanted to have a photo of her in the yearbook with what she cherished most – her son. The teen mom banned from the yearbook told her local news station, "I wouldn't be the person I am today if it wasn't for him."

  • By Staff Associated Press

| Trinity, N.C.

A Randolph County teen says school officials pulled a picture of her and her son from the high school yearbook after telling her it promoted teen pregnancy.

Seventeen-year-old Kaitlin Tiller posed with her son, Leelin, for the Wheatmore High School yearbook photo last summer after the school told seniors to pose with something that represents them or an achievement.

"I wouldn't be the person I am today if it wasn't for him," she told WGHP-TV's Chad Tucker. 

Randolph County Schools Superintendent Donald Andrews said Friday the yearbook's practice has been to include photos only of graduating students, though family and friends could appear with seniors in advertisements.

The school did accept photos of students with their family pets, Kaitlin told WGHP-TV. 

Tiller says the picture promotes responsibility and love. She didn't submit an alternate photo.

Tiller says since her son's birth last year, she graduated early, started college, and is working more than 30 hours a week while being a teen mom.

In a document released March of this year, The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy said about 68 per 1,000 teenage women ages 15-19 in the US became pregnant in 2008 — a decline of 42 percent since 1990.

In North Carolina, there were more than 23,000 teenage pregnancies in 2008. 

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