Teacher in Cheerleader Flap Charges Wrongful Firing

A former Canyon Country high school teacher whose selection of cheerleading captains set off protests by parents filed a damage claim against the school district this week, saying she was wrongfully dismissed.

Among the allegations made this week by former Canyon High cheerleading coach and English teacher Cynthia Wheat is that before she was let go at the end of the just-concluded school year, Principal Bill White illegally asked her about her affiliation with the National Organization for Women.

The claim, a copy of which was obtained by The Times, also alleges that some school employees joined in “slanderous accusations” against Wheat that she made sexual advances to a student, and that the district violated provisions of the new state Family Rights Act by stripping Wheat of her cheerleading duties because of her pregnancy.

School district officials would confirm only that Wheat, 28, is no longer a teacher at the school. Walter Swanson, superintendent of the William S. Hart Union High School District, said he had not yet seen the claim but added, “It’s apparently a legal matter, so I would not be able to comment anyway.”

The claim demands that Wheat be reinstated and paid more than $10,000 in damages. Her attorney, Stan Stern, said in a written statement that if those requests are denied he will sue the district on Wheat’s behalf.

Wheat, who came to the district in the fall of 1990 after teaching in Texas schools, was still a probationary employee when she received a dismissal notice earlier this year. Her claim maintains that she should have been allowed an administrative hearing before the dismissal became final in June.

Wheat’s decision in April, 1991 to appoint eight cheerleading captains for the following year, without holding tryouts for the entire squad, caused an uproar in Canyon Country that led to news stories nationwide. Wheat’s car was vandalized and the Canyon High vice principal received telephoned threats that “you or someone in your family will die” unless all current cheerleaders were allowed to try out for the head cheerleader positions.

After the school board backed Wheat’s right to make the appointments--but required that tryouts be held for cheerleader captains in the future--a group of parents implied to school officials that Wheat had made sexual overtures to a male student, school officials said.

The student later said a parent had tried to persuade him to complain about Wheat.