Vice Principal’s Life Threatened in Cheerleaders’ Flap

Canyon High School cheerleading squads may be disbanded because a vice principal received death threats in a bitter dispute over picking head cheerleaders, a Santa Clarita school official said Friday.

“The choosing of cheerleaders or song girls is always an extremely emotional thing in our business, much more so than in athletics because of how much attention the girls get,” said Clyde Smyth, superintendent of the William S. Hart Union High School District. “But when emotions run so strong that it results in threats of physical violence or harm, then I think the program needs to be re-evaluated.”

The dispute centers around changes in the selection of captains for the three cheerleading squads, which the cheerleaders’ coach said had turned “girl against girl, parent against parent, angry that one girl or another made the squad.”

Denny Thompson, a vice principal at Canyon High School, received four phone calls earlier this month from an adult male who warned that “you or someone in your family will die” unless all 32 current cheerleaders were allowed to try out in front of a group of judges for the eight captaincies, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said. Deputy Ken Kyle said he has no suspects, but added, “It’s natural to assume that it could be a friend or family member” of one of the students involved.

Cynthia Wheat, an English teacher who is the cheerleaders’ coach, had appointed next fall’s captains earlier this month, prompting calls for her dismissal from some angry parents and the threats against Thompson, her supervisor.

Bill White, the high school’s principal, said he recommended to Smyth that he retain the squads, but defuse the controversy by approving tryouts for the positions next year instead of appointments.

“Parents have been very vocal about cheerleaders over the years, but never this vocal,” White said. “We’re going to get through this thing, but meanwhile, a lot of ugly trash is going to come up.”

Wheat, 26, who is in her first year of teaching at the school, said Friday that she appointed the eight captains for next year before tryouts were held, primarily because her predecessor had also done so. The remaining 34 cheerleader positions were to be filled by students selected by a panel of judges from the National Cheerleading Assn.

But instead of appointing three captains, as was done last year, Wheat appointed eight leaders and added 10 new cheerleading positions, for a total of 42.

That angered some girls and their parents who felt that the selections were unfair. A group of seven parents has petitioned the district to dismiss Wheat on the grounds that she is incompetent and showed favoritism in selecting the captains, administrators said.

Wheat, who receives $800 a year extra to serve as the cheerleaders’ coach, has hired an attorney and held several news conferences to defend her actions. She said she told the cheerleaders months ago that she intended to appoint “cooperative students with leadership abilities” to be captains. She said she has been harassed by students since last fall, when her car was scratched with a key and pelted with eggs.

“I tried to build the team, just like a football or basketball coach,” Wheat said. “But there were animosities that already existed before I came here from Texas. There have been three advisers in three years. It’s been girl against girl, parent against parent, angry that one girl or another made the squad.”

Wheat said her attempts at discipline were ignored.

“They refused to listen to me when I told them to do certain cheers or take off their jewelry because it was against the rules to wear it and could scratch another girl during the stunts,” Wheat said.

“They’d say, ‘My mother said I don’t have to listen to you.’ ”

Wheat said relations became so strained between different cliques of girls that they would sit on opposite sides of the room and some even feared for their safety during tossing stunts, when they need to be caught by teammates to prevent injury.

“It’s been very tense,” said Sarah Sparks, 15, whom Wheat selected to head the junior varsity squad next year. “It’s supposed to be fun. But it’s been a real mess.”

But other cheerleaders said the problems have been exaggerated. “It’s not like we’re going to murder each other or something,” said one cheerleader, dressed in a green and gold uniform, who declined to be identified as she walked to a volleyball game on campus Friday.

Thompson, the recipient of the death threats, said he is not concerned for his safety, but does sympathize with Wheat. “Here’s a lady with a small child and a husband who moves to a new state and ends up in the middle of this madness,” he said.

Lawrence Herkimer, president of the National Cheerleading Assn., said 600,000 American girls are involved in the sport, which has become increasingly competitive over the years.

Herkimer noted that the mother of a Channelview, Tex., cheerleader is awaiting trial on charges that she hired a hit man in March to kill the mother of a rival cheerleader.