Mom blasts Nevada school for excluding her son with special needs from yearbook

A Nevada mom is blasting a Las Vegas tech school after she says her child – and several other children with special needs – were left out of the school’s yearbook.

Mariela Azarpira said her son Samir Azarpira did not appear in Northwest Career and Technical Academy’s most recent yearbook, The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. According to the outlet, he is enrolled in the school’s Program Approach to Career Employment, a transition program for young adults with special needs who have already earned a high school diploma.

“I went page-by-page,” Azarpira told the newspaper. “Not even one picture. Not even one acknowledgement … Honestly, it really broke my heart.”

She told the newspaper her son, who is 22, was born with a neurological disorder called hydrocephalus and is autistic. She also said no one in his class, which has about 10 students, was included in the yearbook.

Her son started attending the school in 2021 after the family moved from Southern California, according to CBS affiliate KLAS-TV, and is slated to complete the program when summer ends.