The REST of the Story from WWeek: Cheerless at Lincoln

December 16, 2009

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Now Willamette Week (Here) has the back story on why the entire cheer squad (but one) and the two coaches quit.. Remember when the cheer coaches quit? It got lost in the noise over all the other problems with Lincoln’s coaches (baseball coach taking kids to a strip club, football coaches getting into rhubard with cops on a Max platform, drunk basketball coaches–gadzooks, who is the AD of this school?).
In the WWeek story, after you get past the obligatory references to “Glee,” Hannah Montana and white privilege we get to the story. Was it a case of political correctness run amok? Bending over backwards to overlook the transgressions of the transgender cheerleader on the team? It appears that way.
Put it this way: if he/she were a white, hetero kid and had as many infractions as Alonza (to the left), they would have been thrown off the team and it’s doubtful the principal would have pleaded with the coaches to give her one more chance. In fact, it’s doubtful the principal would have been involved at all.
The cheer squad at Lincoln had a three strikes policy. If you were late or missed something three times you were OUT. But the same rules didn’t apply to Alonza, according to her mates on the team (before it was disbanded). Here’s what WW said,

By the end of August, Alonza had been reprimanded for a variety of infractions, according to documents WW has obtained. She was late several times to practices. She didn’t show up at a fundraiser and didn’t call to say she wouldn’t be there. She rolled her eyes at teammates and coaches when practicing stunts. She posted photos on her MySpace page that appeared to show her drinking. Allegedly, she once said she would drop a flyer [purposely drop a cheerleader landing a stunt]. At camp in Eugene she received an all-star award, but when she accepted the award she said, “Man, all I get is this stupid paper.”

The team had a three-strikes policy, and on Aug. 26, when Alonza was an hour and 45 minutes late to practice at Lincoln, the coaches decided she had used all three; they asked her to leave the team.
The next day, Peyton Chapman, Lincoln’s principal, asked the coaches to give Alonza another chance. They did. After drafting a new code of conduct agreement with Alonza, the coaches agreed to put her on the junior varsity team. “Eye-rolling or ‘diva behavior’ will not be tolerated,” the agreement read.

 So are the rest of the kids supposed to tolerate this boorish and–it turns out–dangerous behavior?
Why would they disband the cheer squad unless it was a serious issue? 

Was the issue that he/she wanted to use the girls dressing room?
We’ll find out from the coach tomorrow when she’s on the show at 7:05pm.

Tell ’em where you saw it. Http://www.victoriataft.com