A group of white cheerleaders forced their black teammate to get on all fours and act like a “mascot” while they recorded the “humiliating” act, a new lawsuit has revealed.
The student’s parents filed a 40-page lawsuit Thursday against the Cumberland Valley School District, located in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.
The legal filing alleges that her daughter, known only as Jane Doe 2, faced “discrimination” and “intimidation” from teammates, adults and coaches on Cumberland Valley High School’s competitive cheer team during a competition trip.
The alleged incident occurred when the team traveled to the UCA National High School Cheerleading Championships at Walt Disney World Florida in February 2024, while another cheerleader went to pick up Jane Doe 2 from her hotel room.
Despite feeling “reluctant to go,” the student followed her teammate to another room filled with a group of cheerleaders because “she was pressured by her peers to do so,” the lawsuit, reviewed by DailyMail.com, states.
The parents of a Black cheerleader on Cumberland Valley High School’s competitive cheer team filed a lawsuit Thursday against the school district after her white counterparts allegedly forced her to perform like a “mascot” on a “leash.”
When she got there, her teammate, named only Jane Doe 3, told the black cheerleader to “get on all fours and pretend to be an animal” while she “walked around and made Jane Doe 2” follow her “as if “She was tied with a leash,” the lawsuit details, adding that the act was “reminiscent of slavery.”
As Jane Doe 2 got down on her knees to perform the outrageous act, another of her teammates recorded her, while Jane Doe 3, a senior, insisted she smile for a selfie “to commemorate the moment,” she says. the demand.
The filing adds that the parents and coaches were on the trip as chaperones and that they “knew what had been done to Jane Doe 2 in the hotel room.”
One woman, identified as Ms. Pickel, referred to as an ‘attack dog for trainers,’ made sure to sit next to Jane Doe 2 on the plane home after the alleged moment.
During the plane ride, Pickel “interrogated and harassed” the entertainer, making it “perfectly clear that what happened to her in Florida was not to be revealed to anyone,” including her parents, according to the lawsuit.
After the alleged traumatic incident, Jane Doe 2 confided in Michael Craig, the school’s athletic director.
After speaking with him in April, two months after the alleged encounter, Craig “said he would look into it, but immediately fell silent,” the lawsuit details.
The filing adds that both parents and coaches were on the trip as chaperones and that they “knew what had been done to Jane Doe 2 in the hotel room.” (Pictured: Cumberland Valley High School)
The filing adds that Craig’s silence about the alleged incident was “a tacit admission that he was aware of the allegation of discriminatory conduct, harassment and intimidation at one of the sports programs he oversaw.”
The student’s father, John Doe, took matters into his own hands and decided to address the matter at a board meeting on May 6, and again on May 20 after receiving no response.
One board member, Harold ‘Bud’ Shaffner, became angry with John Doe and ‘chased’ him in the parking lot ‘and began threatening him and others,’ the lawsuit adds.
Shaffner, the husband of Kristi Shaffner, one of the cheerleading coaches, only stopped causing mischief after other parents took out their cellphones to record him, according to the document.
‘Mister. “Shaffner also made it inherently clear that if John Doe did not like the racist environment at CVSD, then plaintiffs were not welcome in the school district,” the documents said.
The school board then “refused to investigate” Shaffner’s behavior after interactions with him and John Doe, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also details other instances in which Jane Doe and John Doe witnessed their daughter being upset at the hands of the team.
The document said that her parents often saw her cry when they picked her up from cheerleading events and practices, that she asked to transfer to a different school or district, “became sad, nervous, and withdrawn” and that she stopped “participating in activities she previously enjoyed.’
Her parents also shared that Jane Doe 2 even placed a copy of the ‘Serenity Prayer’ in her room ‘and repeated it as a mantra to overcome the racial discrimination, bullying and harassment she was enduring,’ the lawsuit details.
In response to initial allegations of bullying and discrimination filed before the lawsuit, the Cumberland School District closed its investigation in October. WHP reported.
In response to initial complaints of bullying and discrimination filed before the lawsuit, the Cumberland School District closed its investigation in October. (Pictured: Dr. Mark A. Blanchard, Superintendent of the Cumberland Valley School District)
According to the lawsuit, the school board “chose to cover it up” rather than “fix its problems with creating, fostering and perpetuating a racially hostile and pro-bullying environment.”
The girl and her parents agree that the school’s “investigation was a sham” and that the law firm she hired, McNees, Wallace & Nurick, was only hired “to provide the findings the Board wanted,” according to the lawsuit. .
The filing concluded that due to the alleged interaction with her teammates and subsequent teammates, Jane Doe 2 has experienced symptoms of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, sleep problems, and fear of retaliation, among other setbacks.
The parents and their daughter requested a jury trial and also “demanded a ruling in their favor” and against all named defendants, including interest, punitive damages and attorney fees, according to the lawsuit.
DailyMail.com has contacted Dr. Mark A. Blanchard, the superintendent of the Cumberland Valley School District and the Cumberland Valley Cheerleading Team for comment.