Texas Cheerleaders Terrorize School

[Paladin]

I was half expecting the article to talk about how these girls were masterminds at robbing banks as well. I'm sure a few of you know the movie I'm referring to.

 

[philamena]

Yeah, these girls will go on to be prima donnas in their college careers and marry some drunkard frat boy attorney wanna be.

But the good news is that in 20 years at the reunion, they will all be just as flabby and just as divorced as most everyone else. Karma...it sucks.

This story is amazing though. It is like a bad hollywood caricature of modern day high school life...where it is meant to be so over the top as to not be believable. But it was true!

Cal

Absolutely.

 

[californiacarrie]

reb,
I agree with you...why o why was the principal given 75,000.00? What utter bs.:banghead:

What I want to know is what kind of punishment is called for when a parent loses their job because of their child's behavior. Grounding? Spanking? Locked in her bedroom forever? If I were the girl's mother I would be absolutely LIVID!

 

[Sally]

What I want to know is what kind of punishment is called for when a parent loses their job because of their child's behavior. Grounding? Spanking? Locked in her bedroom forever? If I were the girl's mother I would be absolutely LIVID!

The mother lost her job because of her own behavior...inaction. She was the pricipal of the school and her job was to enforce discipline. She looked the other way either because her daughter was involved or she was just plain incompetent or both. In my opinion she got off way too easy.

 

[californiacarrie]

The mother lost her job because of her own behavior...inaction. She was the pricipal of the school and her job was to enforce discipline. She looked the other way either because her daughter was involved or she was just plain incompetent or both.

good point...

 

[Amraann]

I am unclear as to how exactly these girls terrorized anyone...

 

[michelle]

WHY, exactly,, did the school board give this corrupt woman $75K to resign instead of firing her dumb ?????

LOL, I know!

 

[CarpeDiem]

What I want to know is what kind of punishment is called for when a parent loses their job because of their child's behavior. Grounding? Spanking? Locked in her bedroom forever? If I were the girl's mother I would be absolutely LIVID!

She put her in an alternative school to finish her senior year.

 

[CarpeDiem]

I am unclear as to how exactly these girls terrorized anyone...

Well, if it's like when I was in school, I'm sure they made anyone they didn't like feel horrible, and they and everyone else knew nothing would be done. Classic bully behavior is what not only the other kid's got but the teacher's too!! It's like out of that movie "Mean Girls".

 

[Mr. E]

I am unclear as to how exactly these girls terrorized anyone...

Amraann, I'm with you. I think it was a poorly written and/or presented news article. I'm sure the girls did horrible things (otherwise, why would there be a news story at all), but there wasn't enough information for us to determine our own opinion on the story.

There were hints that they "terrorized" their teachers and coach, but it only stated that they were disrespectul toward their teachers and that they stole their coach's phone and wrote inappropriate messages on it. That they posted pictures of themselves on Myspace doesn't speak of terrorism to me, only stupidity.

I actually used this article in my high school journalism class to discuss vagueness and jumping the gun (writing a story before there is one). I'm looking forward to reading a more thorough follow-up story.

 

[indallas2]

Here is the lastest on this story, the cheerleaders and their parents think the national attention has been blown out of proportion:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/010707dnmetcheerleaders.34349f3.html

 

[Amraann]

Well, if it's like when I was in school, I'm sure they made anyone they didn't like feel horrible, and they and everyone else knew nothing would be done. Classic bully behavior is what not only the other kid's got but the teacher's too!! It's like out of that movie "Mean Girls".

UMM I cannot dispute that many who have low self esteem are subject to teenage drama.
However I wonder about these "adult" teachers.
Afraid??

I mean HS sucked if you were not "popular" for that matter even if you were you did not know it...
As teenagers we ALL felt insecure.

 

[Mr. E]

Here is the lastest on this story, the cheerleaders and their parents think the national attention has been blown out of proportion:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/010707dnmetcheerleaders.34349f3.html

So far, I'm in agreement with them. What have the girls done to gain this kind of attention? Skip class? Be disrespectful toward teachers? Post stupid pictures of themselves online? Many of my students, who are approximately the same age, do this. Nobody was physically hurt, no weapons were used, nothing illegal (aside from maybe the normal teen stuff) was done, so why is this in the news?

Whatever the whole story is, as a parent, if it were my kid involved I woud deal with it at home in my own way, but I would be pissed that it was in the national news. What if this followed these girls to college and beyond, when they were through with the high school games surrounding cheerleading and popularity?

 

[indallas2]

If I remember correctly from listening to the news about this story it all started when the cheerleader coach/teacher (whatever they call them) quit her position because the principal of the school (one of the cheerleaders Mom's) wouldn't back the cheerleader teacher when she disciplined the 5 girls for the CRUDE picture they posted on myspace.com. I guess the principal didn't want to discipline any of the girls.

The 5 girls were dressed in their cheerleader uniforms and took a picture of themselves holding a CRUDE OBJECT inside a condom store.

After the cheerleader teacher commented on the news, the district became involved and did their own investigation which lead to the release of the principal and I guess that's when the national news got a hold of the story.

 

[Cupcake]

Four cheerleading coaches in one year?? Yeah, I'd say there's a problem ... something is going on there, at any rate.

If it were my kid, he/she would be grounded six ways to Sunday! Lack of respect to their elder, there is no excuse for in my book. And for these teachers not to have the backup of their principle speaks volumes to me. I've had that in my employment experience myself, and it made me a very unhappy camper.

 

[Mygirlsadie]

Not that I agree with it or anything at all that these girls did but what does what they have on their Myspace acct. have anything to do with school rules? On another note I can't believe these fruitcakes are getting away with stuff like this when the little 5,6,7 yr olds are being treated as perverts and sexual predators for giving their little girlfriend a smooch in the classroom.

 

[Amraann]

I am still unclear...

IN a nutshell these girls posted on MySpace??

 

[Mr. E]

As far as I can tell, the worst thing these girls did was steal their coach's phone and use it illicitly. Which is bad, and they should have been disciplined, and the principal didn't support the coach, which is bad and unfair. Then the girls posed with phallic-shaped candles on Myspace, and it took administration a week to determine if they should be kicked off the team or not.

All bad, and I'm sure the girls are horrible, and I certainly hope they mature into better people.

But why all the news stories???

There was a gang rape at a local middle school in my area -- it hit the local papers, but I'm sure no one outside of the area knew about it. There was a high school kid who murdered a drug dealer during a deal gone bad. Got a blurb in the local paper.

Not that I'm saying these stories need to be read by people across the country, but why all the attention surrounding naughty cheerleaders? I just don't get it. It just doesn't seem like "real news."

 

[Nova]

You said the magic words, Mr. E: "naughty cheerleaders." No other explanation necessary.

(Nice use of a real-life journalism issue in your class, BTW.)

 

[Mr. E]

D'oh! I didn't even catch the "naughty cheerleaders" bit! I guess my mind is still in "teacher mode, " which takes me about as far away from that kind of entendre as possible!

My journalism class doesn't have textbooks. I've taught an entire semester using only newspapers (local) and news stories I find online. It's a lot of prep, but I think it works out pretty well.