GIRLS LOSE LATEST ROUND IN CHEERLEADING BATTLE

NEW HAMBURG -- Although tradition would have it differently, "past policy" will keep 13-year olds Ashley Throop and Jessica Jansen on the sidelines while other Kelso C-7 eighth-grade girls lead cheers this year.

The two girls, who live in Kelso, transferred to the public school district from a nearby parochial school. Every month since July they have been given a different answer regarding whether they would be allowed to cheer with other eighth-grade girls, a tradition some say dates back more than 25 years.

The district's Board of Education voted unanimously Tuesday night to deny requests from the girls' parents to place them on the cheerleading squad. This vote -- which came after two requests for motions to allow the girls to cheer died on the floor -- upheld a decision made during the September 11 board meeting.

The board had originally voted during an August board meeting to allow the girls to cheer because there wasn't a written policy on the issue.

"it's always been a tradition in all of these little schools in the same league that the eighth-graders are the cheerleaders," said Paula Throop, Ashley's mother. "There's no rule. They're going on tradition and the tradition is that all eighth-graders cheer."

Board member Ken Burger said the board's decision was based on an unwritten policy that required the school's booster club to select cheerleaders in the spring. Neither he nor any of the board members addressed the issue of whether eighth grade girls were traditionally placed on the cheerleading squad.

"It's a past policy, and that's probably the next best thing to a written policy," said Superintendent Ron White. "The indication to commit to cheering takes place in the spring so they can prepare for uniforms, summer camps and the like."

Linda Essner, whose daughter is on the cheerleading squad, told the board she felt the issue was affecting the two transfer students as well as the members of the cheerleading squad. "I think we did what we were supposed to do last spring," she sad. "It's been hard on everybody. I don't think our girls are enjoying it as much as they would like to. If allowing them to cheer helps them feel more comfortable, helps them fit in more, maybe we need to let them participate."

Board president Dorothy Dirnberger said the issue would normally not have been handled by the school board. Normally, the superintendent and cheerleading sponsors would have made the decision, she said.

At one point during the meeting, board members asked cheerleading sponsor Jill Pinkston if the matter could be settled without a vote by the board. "I don't have any comment," she responded.

Paula Throop and Doris Jansen, Jessica's mother, said they felt the girls were being discriminated against because they transferred from a private school and did not live in New Hamburg. The girls are being denied an opportunity to participate because a few parents don't want them there and that's wrong, they said.

"It's become a power struggle: It seems like we have the principal's support, the faculty's support, and most of the community's support -- everyone except the sponsor, a few seventh-grade mothers and the school board," Jansen said.

Several parents attending the meeting also supported that belief and said the girls should be allowed to cheer. "I feel they should be able to cheer; it's not right," said Dianna Kluesner, whose daughter is currently on the squad.

Former board member Bob Mothershead agreed. "The inflexibility of some people has caused this, and it's hurting the kids," he said. "Those two little girls are being discriminated against."

Although Jansen and Throop said it was probably too late for their daughters to get on the squad, they are not planning to give up their fight. They said their children are being ostracized as a result of this issue, and they won't give up until they have exhausted all of their resources.

"The girls sit in a swing and watch the other girls practicing cheers at recess," Jansen said. "When I came home in August and told her she could cheer, you would have thought it was Christmas. Then I came home the next month and told her they'd changed their minds, and all she could ask was `why?'.

"We could drop this fight tomorrow but the girls are still going to have to live after this. I don't know what I plan to do, but I do plan to be a future board member."