School officials in California apologized over the weekend after a high school yearbook staff misidentified a Muslim student as "Isis Phillips."
Bayan Zehlif, a junior at Los Osos High School in Rancho Cucamonga, on Friday posted a photo of herself on Twitter and Facebook wearing a hijab and smiling above the words "Isis Phillips, 11th."
"I am extremely saddened, disgusted, hurt and embarrassed that the Los Osos High School yearbook was able to get away with this," Bayan wrote. "Apparently I am 'Isis' in the yearbook. The school reached out to me and had the audacity to say that this was a typo. I beg to differ, let's be real."
The Council for American-Islamic Relations, a nonprofit Muslim advocacy group, called Sunday for an investigation into the incident.
"We join with the family in their concern about a possible bias motive for this incident and in their deep concern for their daughter's safety as a result of being falsely labeled as a member of a terrorist group," said Hussam Ayloush, executive director of CAIR's Los Angeles branch. "No student should have to face the humiliation of being associated with a group as reprehensible as ISIS."
Los Osos High School principal Susan Petrocelli apologized Saturday on behalf of the school in a post on Twitter.
"LOHS is taking every step possible to correct and investigate a regrettable misprint discovered in the yearbook," she wrote. "We sincerely apologize."
Mat Holton, superintendent for the Chaffey Joint Union High School District, told the Los Angeles Times the error was the result of a mix-up between Bayan and another student named Isis and not intentional.
"If (school officials) find that a student acted irresponsibly and intentionally, administration will take appropriate actions," he told the newspaper. "The school will assure students, staff and the community that this regrettable incident in no way represents the values, or beliefs, of Los Osos High School."
The school's yearbook staff apologized for the error on Friday and said in a post on Twitter it was working with school and district officials to determine how to remedy the situation.
"We should have checked each name carefully in the book and we had no intention to create this misunderstanding," the staff said. "It is our fault and this is absolutely inexcusable on our part."
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