Sydney Spies' Second Picture Is Denied By Yearbook, Teen Appears On The 'Today' Show (VIDEO)

Aspiring young model Sydney Spies of Durango appeared on the "Today Show" with her mom Monday to discuss what they see as a censorship issue. Spies has now submitted two photos to her Durango High School's yearbook staff for approval, but has been denied both times for being "unprofessional" and "innappropriate."

(Scroll down to see both of the photos that have been rejected by Durango High School's yearbook staff.)

Spies, 18, and her mother Miki Spies, told "Today Show" host Matt Lauer that they still believe the photo best describes Spies' personality and that they won't submit a "boring" photo for her senior portrait.

The yearbook staff has told Spies that they will run her photos if she is willing to buy the ad space in the back of the yearbook for $300. But that proposal hasn't sat well with Spies.

"If it's going to be in the yearbook anyway, then why should I not be able to have it as my senior picture?" Spies asked Lauer.

As the story has spread however, the Spies have been dealing with both supportive and outraged segments of the public. Since the Durango Herald first broke the story January 5, Spies has said she had to create a Facebook fan page because her personal account shut down under the new weight of friend requests.

"I want people to know that freedom of expression is essential and censoring yearbooks and people is wrong," Spies wrote on her new Facebook page. " I am a fun, loving, determined, outgoing, caring, tenacious person that is willing to go through whatever it takes to make a point. The controversy over my yearbook photograph has become quite the scandal and I believe that we have the right to express ourselves in any form. Love it or hate it, this is who I am."

Spies' first photo [via Facebook] rejected by the DHS yearbook staff:

The second photo [via Facebook] that also was rejected by the DHS yearbook staff:

Quick Poll

Do you think Sydney Spies' photos are inappropriate for the yearbook?

No. I don't see a problem with her wish to express her ambitions to model.

Definitely. Why can't she just select a photo of herself fully-clothed?

I think the first photo is too inappropriate for a yearbook, but the black and white photo is fine.

I think the first photo is appropriate, but the black and white photo is too suggestive.

VOTE

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Comments

[Robert Clark Rutkowski]

09:42 PM on 05/23/2012

If I looked as good as Sydney I wouln't wear anything but sandal toed high heels; the others are just jealous here in puritanical America. If it were two queers tonguing one another in public no one would dare say one critical word.

[MariahG10]

04:13 PM on 05/22/2012

Why dotn they just crop her photo for the yearbook that just shows mainly her upper body??

[Mariah Garcia]

03:57 PM on 05/22/2012

Why doesnt the school jus crop her picture to just show her upper body??

[Mary Schaeffer]

08:21 PM on 05/21/2012

Haters gonna hate.

[Michael Gilliam]

05:22 AM on 05/20/2012

Wow... way to feed attention to the monster; this girl will probably live on this to her grave.

[critter1722]

10:26 PM on 05/18/2012

the first one is no no i am alright with the second one.

[legrosmot]

12:58 PM on 02/11/2012

Great way to promote a modeling career: cry foul and create a media circus around the issue. Her photo just landed on more agency desks than if she had sent them by mail, that's for sure. The idea of censorship is around government infringing on free speech, but the Supreme Court in the past has upheld "community standards" in media, that's why you don't see nudity on broadcast TV. The standard of this community (high school) are that there is a dress code. Maybe it could have been handled better by the school, but I don't feel sorry for this aspiring model and her free publicity.

[lumeda]

12:50 PM on 02/11/2012

I think it's fair to say don't put any pictures in the yearbook if it's not part of the dress code. Neither outfit would have been approved under my old high school's dress code.

[bayouswamprat]

11:19 AM on 02/11/2012

WOW!!! Her Mom's HOT!!!
Sydney, OK, but model material, probably not.
If mom doesn't see a problem with either photo, then mom needs to step back and stop being her friend and be a mom. Sorry, Syd, but you look like an aspiring Wh...
If she wants to represent herself with these photos then she has that right. I will defend that right and so will any American. If the yearbook staff finds the photos inappropriate for a high school publication, that is their right to reject the photos. Well done yearbook staff.

[UberZwitter]

11:12 AM on 02/11/2012

There is nothing wrong with expressing one's self but knowing when and where is the key. Your yearbook is not the place to tout your modelling career (and that black and yellow outfit, it's hideous on top of that). If your gonna be a respected model, having a little class probably helps. I like wearing skimpy things and being sexy- but you have to know when it fits- you don't go to court in that outfit, to church, to a job interview....and not in your yearbook.

And, why are they submitting their own pic? My school just had some guy show up at school and everyone did it the same way.

[justAreader1908]

08:51 AM on 02/11/2012

It amazes me that so many people are choosing to bully this young lady and talk about how awful she is, yet those same people like Ashley Arrington (who has an EXTREMLY slutty picture of herself in stockings, feathers and a tiarra on her facebook page) can't look in the mirror and realize that they are not perfect either... Is her photo inappropriate for the yearbook? Well maybe, I don't know her school policy but my personal opinion is that she looks like a nice young lady in the yellow and black outfit. Those people that see her as being suggestive obviously have perverted minds.....

[kcsplash]

08:18 AM on 02/11/2012

We wonder why our kids get active, pregnent and VD. But that ok, because they should be allowed to do anything they want. After all look at the example we havegiven them. Thheavymojo6671 thinks 98 percent "Can NOt Pull It Off". I thinks thats BS, more than not can no dought, they just choose to have class.

[TheDancingChef]

05:04 AM on 02/11/2012

I say who cares! In the whole grand scheme it's just a high school yearboook that in about 3 to 5 years you won't even know the location of your yearbook and in 10 to 15 years nobody we'll even care especially when you go to a high school reunion the last thing anybody is going to think about is the yearbook photo. I think the yearbook staff is just jealous because there a group of overweight and unattractive nerds that probably have been ignored by people like Sidney Spies there whole high school career and this is there payback for all those years of ridicule. All parties need to just move on because the real world is out there waiting to throw bigger obstacles than the ones you're facing in high school!

[heavymojo6671]

05:00 AM on 02/11/2012

Just because the other 98% of the students cant pull off wearing those clothes doesnt mean she shouldnt be able to wear them. including that guy who seems to want to wear them also. please, sultry, slightly provacative. sure. indecent. please. there is a guy with no shirt in the book, which probably that boy in the student council commitee picked and a (ahem) approved. its not fair for this girl because all the members of the student council are girls, including that (i guess) girl that said they spent weeks working on it and that it would be insulting for all their hard work to have that photo there. she should be reprimanded. -_-

[bayouswamprat]

11:25 AM on 02/11/2012

Well, heavymo, obviously you are out looking for these targets, I mean girls, models...
Guess we all know what you do in your spare time. By the way, did you remember to sign in with the local authorities and alert everyone in your area with the proper postcard?

[jejozi]

12:19 AM on 02/11/2012

Just because you want to be a model doesn't mean you have to look cheap.