In light of another school shooting incident at the Marysville-Pilchuck High School in Washington, a new policy by a high school in Nebraska allowing students to pose with guns for their yearbook is being criticized. The policy triggered calls across the U.S., but the school administration defended the measure.

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The Omaha World-Herald reports that the Broken Bow Public Schools district board in Nebraska, on a unanimous 6-0 vote, allowed the students of the school to be photographed for their yearbook with their guns. However, the board gave one condition - the photo must be tasteful.

Explaining the controversial policy, Mark Sievering, superintendent of the Broken Bow Public Schools, told ABC, "We are a very rural community right in the center of Nebraska where hunting and other shooting sports are very popular ... We have something that is known as the One Box Pheasant Hunt that is a hunt attended by people all over the nation."

The policy, introduced this week, actually allows students to pose for their yearbook photo with any type of prop, not just guns, but the pupils must also meet the school's dress code and the image must be tasteful and appropriate.

Moreover, the student who poses with a weapon, including a knife, must not brandish it or point the item at the camera. It is also banned to include a shot animal in the photo.

Sievering pointed out that until this week, it didn't have an explicit gun prohibition policy for the yearbook photos of graduating seniors, but posing with firearms wasn't generally allowed due to national concerns about violence in schools caused by loose firearms.

A yearbook adviser brought the lack of policy to the school board, which led to the unanimous vote since hunting is an important hobby for many of its students and it should be represented in the yearbook if the students want to, Sievering said.

He added, quoted by WA Today, "I'm confident that students across the country are already taking photos like this. This is not a new thing."

Photographer Brian Baer, who pictures more than 100 seniors in his studio yearly for their yearbook, said he checks first if the firearms brought by the students are not loaded. The poses were mostly done outdoors, said Baer, who has been in the photography business for 20 years.

Sievering shared that one scenario feared by concerned callers include "a fourth grader coming into school and having their picture taken with a gun." He assured the callers, "This is not what this is about."

Broken Bow has a population of about 3,500 residents, which translates to about 60 to 70 seniors on any given year. "We're not talking about hundreds of kids or several schools in a district," Sievering said.

Besides hunting, other hobbies cited by seniors which they incorporate in the yearbook photo include dancing and basketball.

Tagsnebraska high school, yearbook photo, school shooting, Marysville Pilchuck high school