Zero Tolerance At Colleyville Heritage High School

Kim's Story:
year 2000

I am a mother of one of the eleven Cheerleaders recently suspended from Colleyville Heritage High School in Colleyville, Texas.

I found your web site and spent an hour printing off everything on your sight to give to our attorney. There is very little case law that we can find to support our case. The judge is "trying" to help us without saying it in so many words and is asking for more information to support our case. Unfortunately, our particular case has never been challenged in the court system. We believe, if successful, it will create new law. This week, we plan to ask the ACLU to help but have been told not to be too hopeful. Your case was so similar, I felt we needed to share this information with you.

Here is our story:

Approximately, three weeks before school started, this summer, our daughters attended a "private" in-school Cheerleading Camp. Normally, the girls go to SMU or North Texas.

The camp schedule said the girls were to be released at 12:30 on the last day but were to return for a night of fun with all their fellow teammates for an informal dinner, shopping and gift exchange. They were all to spend the night in a hotel in an adjacent city. They were to arrive around 5:30 PM.

Unfortunately, eleven of our daughters went to one of the children's homes (parents were at work) and hung around the pool and drank a beer before going to the hotel. A few of the children took the remaining beer to the parking lot of the hotel. They did not take the alcohol into the hotel.

The girls were not drunk. Their speech was not slurred. The Principal, Superintendent and School Board have all agreed they clearly did not meet the school district's policy of the meaning of "under the influence." This is documented in the legal transcripts of the hearings.

The girls were suspected of suspicious behavior because they did not act as they normally did. Instead of running and hugging their coach in the lobby, they passed by her. This was the coaches first stated reason of suspicion. She further stated in the transcript that she thought they might be mad at her. Later, when she started researching the matter, she found out that they spent the afternoon at one of the girls' houses. THEN...she started to suspect they might have been drinking. She then alerted the Varsity coach, who up to this time had not suspected anything unusual...just typical giggling and laughing of 60 plus girls checking into their rooms.

The coaches called a few of the girls in to question them about whether or not anything had happened. The girls were told that they would be in a lot less trouble if they told the truth than if they told a lie. Each of the girls admitted their wrong doing. Then, they asked to be able to apologize to their fellow teammates, the other JV and Freshmen girls and parents attending.

The coaches, seeing they were not drunk, and not wanting to spoil the evening for the rest of the girls, told them they wanted them to stay till the gift exchange at the end of the evening. We were not notified for almost three hours that this had happened. When we called the coach, she told us not to pick our daughter up till around 10:30 PM. I arrived to find the emotional scene of all 11 girls crying and confessing and telling the others they were sorry and to learn from their mistakes, etc. It was HORRIBLE! The coach told them she was very sorry but that she was sure they would be punished with the Alcohol and Drug Pledge they were required to sign. Since this was their first offense, she believed they would be benched for the first three weeks of football season. This was punishment enough alone....as they had worked since the seventh grade to be on the Varsity team. They are not allowed to cheer in the big stadium until their Varsity year....

Almost two weeks passed with no notification from the school of their impending punishment.

On the Friday before the Wednesday of the first day of school, at 4:58 PM. I received a phone call by one of the Vice-Principals that our daughters would be suspended for the first three days of school and sent to an alternative school for six weeks. This is a school for kids that usually have a felony or misdemeanor charge...or can cause "harm to others." I was further told that our hearing would be Tuesday at 8AM. If we wanted and attorney or any witnesses there on our behalf, we would need to give the school 24 hours notice so they could be equally represented. I explained that as it was Friday, now after 5PM, this would mean I would have to notify them by Monday, 8 AM. I asked how I was supposed to find an attorney over the weekend! They stammered around, called back and gave me till 1 PM, Monday to notify them!

Of course, the parent networking went into place immediately. We found we were all called within a few minutes of each other by various members of the school administration. This started the legal nightmare we have so far endured for over 8 weeks.

The next thing we know, one by one, we are called into hearings for our daughters. We were never given a copy of the coaches report. We requested a copy at the beginning of our hearing and were told that they could not give us a copy with the girls names. They would have to be "whited out" before we could have a copy. We were told that only the head coaches report would be taken in consideration. there would be no need to give us the other report.

We now know that School policy dictates that if they become aware of a "situation," they are to write a one page typed report of the incident and report it to the school immediately. Being an English teacher, the coaches report was two pages. The other coach also wrote a letter. At the time, we were not aware of the law that the school must send, within 24 hours of receiving the report, a copy of the report to the parents.

We now know the law states that children are to be allowed a fair and impartial hearing. We entered the room with the Principal, Vice-Principal, the school's attorney and the Principal of the Alternative School. We had no attorney until our hearing was almost over because he could not be available due to another trial. It would not have mattered anyway. The Principal read from an enlarged printed script. The forms were already typed with our daughter's names and the times they were to appear for a meeting at the Alternative School. We never had a chance! The children were assigned to the Alternative School and not allowed within 300 feet of ANY Grapevine-Colleyville campus or activity for six weeks. They cannot attend the games of brothers or sisters or even drop off or pick up younger siblings from school.

To make matters worse, 8 of the 11 girls are in advanced placement, Pre-AP and AP classes. These classes include Statistics, Calculus, Spanish V, etc. The rest of the girls are in classes such as Physics, Algebra II, Spanish III (no English used in class). They are all in the top ten percent of their graduating class. They are on the Honor Society, City volunteer programs, help with Special Olympics, Student Council, etc., good kids....that made one normal teenage mistake. The Alternative School does not offer any of these advanced classes. They are only legally committed to teaching the core classes such as reading, writing, and arithmetic. We were told that the school policy does not force then to offer any further help than this but that they would work with the High School teachers and ask them to send the lessons at least once a week over to the school. We were told that most students end up "ahead" of the class because the school is quiet and they receive individual attention....not to worry. After two weeks of finding no or little homework being forwarded, one child studying with the wrong book, no instruction for any of these high level classes and our students failing, we hired tutors out of our own pocket to try to help after school and weekends.

In the meantime, we were begging the school to help our kids. We tried to take the issue to court immediately but were told by the judge that we must "exhaust" the school appeals system before coming to court. We continued the charade. We continued going to the other "kangaroo courts." The decisions were rubber stamped all the way down the line. Two brave individuals stood up to the others on the School Board and fought for them but were defeated. They have since been very vocal about the school's misuse of the law and the fact that the are not even following their own local FNC policies that they themselves voted on and adopted. One of the first people asked to answer questions at the School Board Meeting was the JV coach. We were told that her letter would not be taken into account when we asked for a copy. We were never given a copy of her letter.

Over and over we asked whether or not the girls would be allowed back on the squad after the six weeks of Alternative school and three weeks benching. No one would give us an answer. We kept telling the school that they had to give us a decision because if they were not allowed back on the team, they would have to pick up two more academic classes. This would put them over two weeks behind in those classes. One day after receiving their Letter Jackets, they have worked for years. they were sent a letter stating they were off the team for the rest of the year and to turn in their new (never worn) uniforms...and the balance due for Cheerleading expenses! The punishment continued!

This is when we decided to take it to court regardless of whether or not we could get our girls out of school for even one day. As eleven parents, we felt, if we stayed united, we could weather the storm and "force" the school to admit that their policies were confusing and misleading. No wonder there is little case law in favor of our subject. No single set of parents could get thru the school process, much less the expense of the legal one. We have already spent thousands of dollars. I don't know how much more we can afford or how many of us can continue the emotional toll. The school and government have this down to a science. They can draw on thousands of school cases across the United States to support their cases. They have unlimited use of taxpayer money to fight us.

Our school does not state a "zero tolerance" rule. There is NO mention of this as a policy. In addition, the girls signed a Drug and Alcohol Pledge that only kids in extracurricular activities have to sign. They also have a Cheerleading Pledge they have to sign. No where in the pledge is this strict punishment stated. One by one, as the inadequacies of their policies were pointed out, the letters they used initially quoting their policy were eliminated in their legal briefs and letters to parents. They realized they could not punish them using their own policies. They had to refer to the Texas State Education Code, a six inch thick document that none of us or our children have ever seen or signed. We are told "ignorance of the law is no excuse." Our School District wrote, voted and adopted a local FNC policy of clarification to the State Education code that states: the students are to be punished.....if the action takes place during the school term. Their own attorney told them they did not have to abide by their own policy because the Texas Education Code superceeds local policy!

Our case has been on the front cover of both Dallas and Fort Worth newspapers, Channel, 4,5,8,11, and all of the radio talk shows. We have heard from people in several surrounding states so we have no idea how far this has gone. The only thing lacking is Opra! There is even an AOL sight dedicated to this where the public can comment and vote! One of the news stations was in our front yard when we returned from work! I will say that although they are not allowed to "slant" the views.....the press have been VERY nice and considerate. They "smell a rat" and want to keep the eye on them...they believe this stinks and have all wished us well.

This past week, the media light has been on a group of kids in Highland Park (Dallas) suspected of drinking. The police asked to enter their home while the parents were away. The children were smart enough not to allow them entry and called the parents. The parents, upon returning home, would not allow the police in without a search warrant. They were aware since the children "in question" were Cheerleaders, Drill Team, and Football players among others that what happened to us could happen to their children! Supposedly, over 100 kids were at this home. It was an impromptu gathering. Many fled by foot or car, many hid in the home. Only eleven were caught and only five actually received a three week in-school suspension. The others got away with no punishment. This is what this kind of action causes......Parents cannot confidently cooperate with the law because of the additional punitive punishment doled out by the school if they are found guilty. Coaches and teachers may try to "hide" mistakes or write very "brief" reports to protect the children they love...all the while fearing loss of their jobs if they are found to be misleading in the report. Parents will tell their children not to tell the truth without talking to them first.

Our daughters are shown video tapes telling them not to murder, not to assist in murder, not to molest anyone, not to carry a weapon, etc. They have to wear special uniforms and are escorted to and from their cars. They cannot take a backpack or lunch box to school or wear a shirt that is not tucked in... because they could hide a weapon!

I think you can imagine the pain and heartache this has caused them, our other children, grandparents, etc. We now find this will be on their transcript when they go to college. These people have NO idea what they have done...or simply do not care. Cruelty does not belong in education!

My heart goes out to you with similar instances. We now know there are cases like this all over the US. Think about all the children that are destroyed in this zero tolerance path! As parents and taxpayers, we have been far to complacent in not questioning the rules and policies of our schools. We had NO idea how powerful they are....and now they govern our children during the summer!

I have no idea whether or not any of you can help us. We need legal advise from those specializing in Constitutional Rights and Educational Law. We are trying to get this handled through the local District court but only have one more chance (this week) with an amended plea to go this route. The judge tells us we have an excellent case in Federal Court but Federal Court can take years and thousands of dollars. We have been told up to 100,000.00 for our case. This is all part of the school plan. They know we can't fight the money and emotional battle that long. Our Constitutional rights, "due process" have been violated as well as a clear case for Discrimination and possibly Reverse Discrimination. Male athletes are clearly not treated the same way (especially in Texas) and much has been made of us being made examples of because we are "wealthy and white." If a school had done this to one single black Cheerleader do you think this would have happened? Certainly not after the press got it. This should have NOTHING to do with race or stature. This is about fair punishment for a first offense mistake from TEENAGERS!

If anyone cares to help we could use the following:

* A fabulous attorney and firm specializing in Constitutional and Education Law....at least for advice...perhaps one that would take this pro bono or on contingency

* Letters of fact supporting similar instances that could be substantiated with case law in favor or our circumstance

* Letters of support that I could forward to others

* Most importantly, tell your friends and your children that in this day and time, if they make a mistake, they can no longer do the right thing. Telling the truth, admitting your mistake and apologizing is the worst possible thing they can do. They need to tell you the WHOLE truth and let you help them determine the next best thing to do.

* We advise you to review your school's current policies, request a copy of the policies that your local school board adopts such as Local FNC and EMI laws. Then, take the time to research your State Education Code. You can find this in your local library. Start attending all public School Board Meetings and writing letters asking for clarification of your local policy.

Take action now to protect your children from unfair punishment. We waited
too late.

Sincerely,

Kim