Gilroy
– Thousands of eyes will follow Gilroy High’s varsity
cheerleading squad this week as they flip and flash smiles during
the Pro Bowl in Hawaii, televised and transmitted nationwide. From
the Wednesday morning limo ride to their Sunday flight home, the
episode is a heady sip of stardom for the girl
s.
Gilroy – Thousands of eyes will follow Gilroy High’s varsity cheerleading squad this week as they flip and flash smiles during the Pro Bowl in Hawaii, televised and transmitted nationwide. From the Wednesday morning limo ride to their Sunday flight home, the episode is a heady sip of stardom for the girls.
But for these teens, the spotlight is nothing new. Since September, when the squad pleaded for a three-day field trip to Honolulu, the cheerleaders have been caught in a cross-fire between parents, teachers and school trustees, grappling over whether the girls should trade acrobatics and chants for class time.
The dispute “seemed to take on a life of its own,” recalled Jim Rogers, a former trustee, and an avid supporter of the trip. Letters to The Dispatch alternately praised and damned the excursion, and the school board members aligned for or against it. The question of a simple field trip exploded into a debate on school priorities, policy consistency, and the meaning of education itself.
Columnist Dina Campeau summed it up: “This year’s cheerleaders got caught in something that is much, much bigger than themselves.”
“The reason this became such a hot issue, is because people have different views of what counts, for educational value,” said parent Jeff Orth. His two daughters, Melissa and Stephanie, both graduated from Gilroy High, where they were captains of the cheerleading squad. “We all agree on reading, writing and arithmetic, but anything beyond that … Emotions run hot.”
While tempers flared, school trustees faced increasing pressure to up the high school’s tepid test scores. For trustee Pat Midtgaard, the Honolulu trip didn’t make the grade – especially as trustees mulled how best to use class time. Three days, she said, is a lot of time away from school.
Cheerleaders say Gilroy’s academic record doesn’t rest on their shoulders alone. “It felt like they were attacking us, and our grades,” said senior Jennifer Gustin Monday afternoon, as she prepped for a new dance routine. “But we have to keep up our grades to do this in the first place – and we worked really hard for this.”
Midtgaard voted twice against the trip, joined by trustees Rhoda Bress and Tom Bundros. But in October, when Javier Aguirre and Jaime Rosso changed their minds, the cheerleaders’ Hawaii dream went from no to go. The board approved the trip by a 4 to 3 vote.
For Gilroy’s cheerleaders, it felt like cheerleading itself was up for a vote. Gustin says the squad struggles to be taken seriously: Despite their high-risk flips and hefty lifts, some sneer at calling them athletes. Captain Alyssa Radtke says the squad is stereotyped as “a bunch of rich girls who get whatever we want” – Hawaii trip included.
“It troubles me that they’re not given the same level as respect as the football, basketball or gymnastics team,” said Orth. Once, he recalled, his daughter Melissa “taped the heck out of her right knee,” to play through the pain. “They’re every bit as athletic, but somehow people think it’s less than a real sport.”
Some parents questioned whether the board was consistently applying its own field trip policy, noting the Future Farmers of America’s six-day trip, approved in August 2005, and frequent band and choir trips. Opponents of the trip have not explained the inconsistency the parents voiced. After the cheerleading controversy died down, board members promised to apprise the policy’s administrative regulations, the “how” of the policy, explained Midtgaard. But in the rush to replace outgoing superintendent Edwin Diaz, field-trip specifics have hit the school board’s back burner.
For some parents, it’s a welcome change. Amid concerns about school violence and slipping test scores, the field-trip furor might seem like much ado about nothing.
But for the cheerleaders, the commotion proved one thing: They matter.
“I didn’t think that many people even knew about us, until they came out to support us,” recalled Gustin. “I didn’t think that many people cared.”
