Cheer coach loses her job

Deirdre Newman

NEWPORT BEACH -- The cheerleading crisis at Newport Harbor High School

that had been latent for the past few weeks has erupted again now that

the popular veteran coach who ignited the controversy has been barred

from campus.

Lisa Callahan, who has been teaching the cheerleaders their routines

for the past 13 years, is no longer allowed to interact with students on

campus because her original hiring didn’t follow proper procedures,

according to a district memo dated Jan. 25 that she received.

That these procedures have just now been brought to light is not only

raising suspicion, but again bringing a wave of negative attention to the

school and dividing the cheerleading community.

“It looks like scandal. It really does after [everything else that]

has happened,” said Darla Mize, whose daughter Courtney Blommer is a

senior cheerleader.

Mize said she is going to bypass the district and file a complaint

with the state to get Callahan reinstated because she doesn’t think the

district handled the situation fairly.

Callahan could not be reached for comment and Principal Michael Vossen

said he could not comment because it is a personnel issue.

The soap opera started in late November, when the cheerleading rosters

were posted and Callahan told administrators that she had witnessed

irregularities in the judging that distorted the final results.

In response, school administrators and Callahan agreed to let all 48

girls who tried out be on the two squads. But that decision was reversed

by Vossen, acting on the recommendation of an ad hoc committee. Vossen

decided to hold new tryouts to fill two more spots on both the varsity

and junior varsity teams.

Practices resumed, but earlier this week Callahan was notified by the

memo that she should “cease her involvement with students on district

property and at district sponsored events,” according to the memo by

Lorri McCune, assistant superintendent with the Newport-Mesa Unified

School District.

The memo, without mentioning Callahan by name, goes on to say that

“the person currently in the position” has not had proper background

screening.

Mize said requiring a background check for Callahan after all this

time is preposterous.

“Wouldn’t they know if she robbed a bank in the past 13 years?” she

asked incredulously.

Jaime Castellanos, also a district assistant superintendent, said his

offices had received calls from parents concerned about Callahan’s future

at the school, as well as a formal complaint filed this week by two

unnamed parents about the entire tryout process.

Mize blames Sherry Kettley, who delivered a copy of the memo to the

cheer coach’s home, for bringing Callahan’s hiring procedures to the

district’s attention in the first place.

Kettley, an ex-president of the booster club whose daughter Kimberley

is a cheerleader, contends she only became involved after new booster

parents wanted to know how much authority they had in terms of hiring and

firing the cheer coach.

“I didn’t know because I had never been through this,” Kettley said.

“So I said to the district, ‘How does this work?”’

Mike Johnston, a booster member whose daughter Jacky is a cheerleader,

said while the club as a whole did not want to see Callahan go, she

basically got what she deserved.

“She’s been there for [12] years, and everybody knows that she was

flying under the radar,” he said. “But when she brought all this

attention to herself, they’re going to say, ‘How can we get rid of

this?”’

Although McCune has only been with the district for a few years, she

said it was her understanding that the hiring issue had been raised

previously at the school, but district regulations had not been followed.

The memo does not fire Callahan, she said, because Callahan is not a

district employee.

“Callahan has been previously hired by the boosters, and they have to

decide what her status is,” McCune said.

McCune’s memo also states that a new coach will be paid $10 per hour,

not the $40 to $45 that Callahan was paid.

And, to further confuse matters, McCune said the district hired and

pays Jennifer Cilderman, who is known as the cheer advisor, to be the

cheer coach.

Cilderman was not available for comment.

While it’s now up to the new booster club to decide if they want to

fill the position, Mize would like to see more attention focused on

what’s best for the cheerleaders.

“The sad thing is everybody is forgetting who this is about,” Mize

said. “My daughter might go out [to cheer], her arms and legs may be

moving, but her heart is done.”

In a conversation with the Pilot during the controversy last year,

Callahan agreed.

“I’ve been here for 13 years and can work with pretty much anybody,”

Callahan said in December. “I want what’s best for the girls. It’s not a

job I have to do for a living.”

* Deirdre Newman covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at o7 deirdre.newman@latimes.comf7 .