By now, some of you most likely heard about the 17-year-old high school student in Alice, Texas, who was kicked off the cheerleading squad for kissing a boy. Apparently, peeping Tom security guards caught the kiss on surveillance cameras and notified school administration about the elicit lip lock.
In response, the student was suspended and removed from the squad–permanently.
On Friday, Alice High School principal Lucy Munoz made the following claim in a letter about the incident: “the district does not suspend students for kissing other students at school, regardless of the gender of the student.” What was missing from her comment was any verifiable reason other than the kiss that prompted the student’s suspension from school and removal from the cheerleading squad.
Principal Munoz, however, did state that the “Cheer Program Handbook requires students to adhere to a higher standard of conduct than that which applies to the general student population.”
Yeah, right.
I was in high school too. And I seem to remember cheerleaders making out in the hallways or parking lots. Some even (gasp!) had sex. I doubt that has changed since I graduated in 1990.
To claim that this student was kicked off the squad and suspended solely based on a public display of affection is ridiculous, especially when you consider how much kissing goes on at high school campuses! Does she really think people are that stupid?
Luckily, we are not. Students and parents aren’t buying it either. There has been an uproar in Alice over what the principal has done to this student.
While I hate what this poor young man is having to endure, I applaud the students and parents for coming to the boy’s defense. That’s what I call school spirit!
The school district is investigating, and it’s my hope that not only is the boy quickly re-instated back into the school and the squad but that Lucy Munoz finds herself out of a job.
Kick her out, kick her out! Waaaaay out!