Cheerleaders sue school district over dismissal from team

Nine Idaho students have filed a lawsuit claiming they were unfairly removed from their high school cheerleading team after staging a “sit-in” to protest conflicts with the school’s new cheerleading coach.

The Idaho Statesman reports the lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court, alleges the Cassia County School District, Burley High School, Superintendent Gaylen Smyer and several school employees violated the girls’ First Amendment rights.

District spokeswoman Debbie Critchfield says the district has not been made aware of the lawsuit and says she has no comment.

The students claim Burley High School cheerleading coach Laine Mansfield’s “temperament, fairness, judgment, and ability to safely coach the team began to concern” them shortly after she was hired.

The lawsuit says 14 members of the cheerleading squad “engaged in a peaceful ‘sit in’ protest in the school’s gym.