At issue for Spies was a senior portrait. While some schools use headshots, Durango High School editors permit students to submit a full body shot. Spies submitted an initial photo, taken professionally (above). In it, she is wrapped at the midsection with only a piece of fabric. She is revealing her abs and shoulders.

But Durango High School yearbook editors rejected that first picture. They claim the picture is a violation of school dress codes, that it’s inappropriate for a yearbook portrait, and that its inclusion would tarnish the yearbook’s reputation. Editors have two years earlier rejected a male student’s submission also. But in that picture, the male teen had no shirt on at all.

So Sydney Spies submitted a second Yearbook photo. This time, she is wearing a full cocktail evening dress. Some cleavage is shown, and her pose is provocative. It too was rejected.

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But Durango High School created a further web of confusion for the issue when it told Spies an option. If she really wants to depict herself with either pic, she can, but for a price. For $300, Spies can purchase an advertisement and use either picture in the commercial advertisement, Durango High School editors told her.

Therein rests the root of Spies’ legal dispute. Suddenly, the award winning, professional, yearbook thinks it’s appropriate to depict skin in a commercial format – a paid print advertisement – but not in a senior format – which is free. Durango High School asserts no wrongdoing. District officials support the editor’s decision. But Spies says she will sue.

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But her arguments don’t rest there. Spies asserts she has a legal right to assert her artistic expression … through a senior portrait. Yet, the Supreme Court has previously ruled that student editors, and the school officials, may in certain circumstances censor school print publications and not run afoul of First Amendment rights of self expression. “If it’s going to be in the yearbook anyway, then why should I not be able to have it as my senior picture? That’s what I don’t understand,” Spies said.

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On Monday, an apparent photographer for Spies’ yearbook photos posted a comment to Facebook. “We also took the opportunity while photographing her modeling portfolio to capture a few images that Sydney can potentially use for her Yearbook senior portrait.” Spies tells news she chose the pictures which best represents her. At least on Facebook, the reaction has been strongly in favor of Spies and her photographer. “You fight for what you think is right! I like the photos there is nothing wrong with them. I am a parent.”

Others felt the pictures are beautiful, yet not appropriate for a Yearbook. “I would stand by the school… They are beautiful pics for a modeling career, not a high school yearbook.” One simply wrote “I’m really not seeing what’s wrong with the pic being in the yearbook. It’s not revealing anything that a cheerleader pic wouldn’t. As for the photographer, great work. “

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But mother Miki Spies and daughter Sydney say that this is not about “professionalism”, it’s about artistic expression. Moreover, Miki believes that children should be allowed to artistically express themselves, and not be censored by school officials. “I see it the way Sydney sees it. It’s artistic. It’s stunning.”

Critics disagree, and courts do too as well. The Supreme Court has previously held that editors of school papers, and their school officials, do have authority to censor in certain circumstances.

Still, Durango High School has offered Spies the ability to run an advertisement that would feature that photo at a price of $300. Spies says the offer proves her point.

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Her assertion is that, if artistic expression is permissible and professional for a commercial advertisement, then why is the same photo not permitted and unprofessional for a student portrait. She believes the inconsistency is illegal. Her supporters at the Colorado Student Press Law Center also agree.

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Spies says she will sue. She cites a Colorado state statute in Monday’s news interview. The statute reads that “students of the public schools shall have the right to exercise freedom of the press” and “no expression contained in a student publication, whether or not such publication is school sponsored, shall be subject to prior restraint.” Moreover, Spies revealed to TODAY her second submission photo to Yearbook editors. In it, she is even more clothed, in a cocktail dress. That photo was also rejected.

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As reported by News10 at the time, River City High School’s yearbook ran an article in 2011 entitled “Who Wears Short Shorts”. It posted pictures of female students from the cheer squad and captioned the pictures with “more leg than Daisy Duke”, “dolled up in mini uniforms”, “strolling down halls” with “blatant disregard” for River City High’s “school dress code.”

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When news reporters asked for comment, school officials said that they had left the editorial process up to the students. Officials added that the “Hazelwood” case has prompted their decision.

Could Sydney Spies’ yearbook photos ultimately become as famous, as perhaps, Casey Anthony’s photos? For now, school officials in Spies’ case find nothing wrong with their actions.

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But, in a carefully worded news statement, the “editors of Durango High School” ultimately made the decision about Spies’ photo, not school officials, claims the Durango School District. HS Principal Diane Lashinsky and assistant principal LeAnne Garcia are refusing to comment about the matter.

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Now one black shawl has drawn a national debate whether someone’s shoulders and midsection is worthy of image censorship by a High School. In an interview with the Durango Herald, Sydney said “I feel like they aren’t allowing me to have my freedom of expression.” Yet she admitted “It’s a little different from everyone else’s picture”.

Her mom added “The yearbook adviser is saying she can’t use the picture; so the students are left with no voice in it.’ The law clearly states that it is the student’s right to decide.”

Since then, the student and her mom Miki have held protests and conducted news interviews. HS Principal Diane Lashinsky and assistant principal LeAnne Garcia are refusing to comment about the matter. The family have contacted a lawyer and may sue.

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“We are an award-winning yearbook. We don’t want to diminish the quality with something that can be seen as unprofessional,” student Brian Jaramillo told local news. The Durango School District has offered her to run the photo as an ad, not as a portrait photo.

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The district issued the following statement to news. “The editors of Durango High School’s yearbook informed a senior student in December that her photo in question would not be included as a senior portrait in the yearbook and asked her to submit a replacement. Durango School District 9-R’s administration supports this decision.”

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