Inappropriate behavior, offensive comments get cheerleading team suspended, school says
An entire cheerleading team has been suspended after a video of cheerleaders acting inappropriately was shared on social media, the principal of an Atlanta high school said in a WSB report Thursday.
Officials at Henry W. Grady High School said the cheerleading team’s ban runs to the end of the basketball season, WGCL reported.
In a letter sent to parents, Grady High School Principal Betsy Bockman said the cheerleaders were suspended on Jan. 16 for acting “inappropriate” and “unprofessional” throughout the season, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The bad behavior culminated after a Jan. 15 girls basketball game against Maynard Jackson High School, leaving Bockman with “serious and distressing” concerns, according to the newspaper.
“At that time, members of the team were in the Jackson lobby displaying very inappropriate behavior and making offensive remarks. When the team went to the bus, members of the team recorded themselves using very profane language directed toward adults including Jackson administrators, school resource officers, and Jackson parents as well as Jackson students,” Bockman said of the video that was shared on social media, WSB reported.
This was not an isolated incident, according to Bockman.
In her letter the principal said she had seen cheerleaders eating, drinking, and leaving the stands during games, in addition to using profanity and taunting opposing teams and their cheerleaders, per WGCL.
The TV station reported the principal was troubled after seeing the team “engaging in cheers and displaying gestures and movements that are creating unwanted attention and detract from what Grady should be about.”
“The behaviors and atmosphere created by the cheerleaders are too informal and unprofessional and reflect negatively on the cheer athletes, basketball teams, and Grady,” Bockman wrote, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. “This decision was not made lightly but it is intentional and hopefully something we can all learn from and cause us to reset our expectations for student and adult behaviors.”
In spite of the suspensions, the seniors on the cheerleading squad will be honored at Grady’s Senior Night basketball game, according to WGCL.
Atlanta Public Schools said the cheerleading team “will be reinstated next school year,” per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
