DANA POINT : Cheerleader Back, With Haircut Intact

Five days and countless media interviews after she was benched from the Dana Hills High School pep squad because of a haircut her coach thought was inappropriate, Amy Apodaca was reinstated Wednesday when school district officials realized they didn’t have a legal leg to stand on.

With her curly brown locks hanging loose, Apodaca’s hair looks like almost any other young woman’s. But when she puts it in a ponytail, the way cheerleaders just have to wear it, the inch-wide band of closely cropped hair above her ears and across the back of her neck clearly shows.

Team adviser Margie Paige decided Friday that the look fell under “extreme haircuts” prohibited by team rules and benched the 17-year-old before last Friday night’s game.

On Wednesday, after news reports and student opposition, school officials decided to reinstate Apodaca since they could find no legal precedent to keep her from performing, said William Eller, assistant superintendent for the Capistrano Unified School District.

“From a legal perspective, we looked at the issue of First Amendment rights and considered, first, does her look detract from her competition, and second, does it create any danger to herself or to her team or her fellow students. Her appearance does not at this point.”

Apodaca, who had become somewhat of a celebrity on campus Wednesday when several television and newspaper reporters interviewed her, said she was upset when she was benched and didn’t understand why her coach had authority to decide which haircuts were “extreme” and which were acceptable.

“Students I ask think it is cool,” she said. “I choose to wear my hair this way. I shouldn’t be punished for that.”

After hearing the news Friday, she still showed up at the football game in her uniform--only to sit in the stands with friends instead of on the field with teammates.

“I sat there and still cheered my team,” she said. “That’s my job. But it was really embarrassing to have to sit in the stands and everyone was asking me, ‘Why aren’t you cheering?’ ”

Despite one missed performance, Apodaca was back at practice Wednesday, a bit surprised at all the media attention she has received.

“It’s a little shocking,” she told reporters while smiling to friends who gathered to watch the interviews. “I thought people would think, ‘Oh, big deal that some cheerleader cut her hair.’ But I’m glad that people are interviewing me. Usually you see stuff on the news that’s important to adults but this is important to us.”

Many of her friends and classmates agree.

“Everybody thought it was kind of sad that she got in trouble for her hair,” said friend Tara Dixon, 17, from Laguna Niguel.