Board nixes request to let cheerleaders skip gym class
BY LARRY HLAVENKA JR.
Staff Writer

Their encouragement may lead football players to the end zone, but it could not drive the Freehold Regional High School District Board of Education to include them in the so-called Option II.

At the board's July 24 meeting at district headquarters in Englishtown, Man-alapan resident Sue Berman led a group of Manalapan High School cheerleaders who were asking for their activity to be included in the FRHSD's revised gym policy.

The cheerleaders were unsuccessful in their bid.

The gym policy will allow two-sport junior varsity and varsity athletes with an expected 100 hours of participation in their sports in the district's six high schools to opt out of taking a physical education class.

At the June 5 board meeting, members voted 6-2 in favor of the policy revision.

"We're disappointed and saddened," Berman said last week, telling the board about the cheerleaders' hard work and dedication. "We understand the decision has been made, but when the pilot [year of the program] is completed, we hope that you include cheerleading."

Board member BonnieSue Rosenwald of Marlboro subsequently made a motion to include cheerleading as part of Option II.

"I think the cheerleaders work very hard; they put in two seasons," Rosen-wald said. "I know firsthand the Marl-boro High School cheerleaders work very hard. It's very easy to track the amount of hours they are putting in. I know it's a pilot program, but [cheerleading] should be included."

However, the end result saw only two board members - Bunny Hammer and Rosenwald - vote in favor of the cheerleaders. Board members Diana Cappiello, President Patricia Horvath, Kathie Lavin, Vice President Ronald Lawson, Joan Leimbach and Chris Placitella all voted against the measure.

Board member Michael Wright was absent.

Lawson, who was opposed to the inclusion of cheerleading in Option II, cited the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association's (NJSIAA) official list of sports as the reason he would not vote in favor of the activity. He said administrators used the list as the basis for Option II.

"Unfortunately, we're in a situation where we needed a starting point," he said. "We used the NJSIAA's sport list as the starting point."

Lawson did recognize the commitment of cheerleaders, but said there are other worthy groups as well. Among them, he mentioned the color guard and marching band.

"There are activities that are very physically demanding and time consuming," he said. "[If cheerleading is included], we're going to open the door to other activities. While I understand and acknowledge the very athletic nature of the cheerleading program, I don't want to open it up at this point."

Superintendent of Schools James Wasser agreed with that assessment.

"You make an exception for one ... where are you going to stop?" he said.

If cheerleading was included in Option II at the July 24 meeting, Leimbach wondered, "in August are we going to have other squads coming here?"

Wasser told the board the district's six principals advocated the plan as written. He said it would be difficult for the board to vote against the unanimous bloc.

He continued, "The secondary role was to help us with our enrollment concern. Maybe a class goes from 40 [students] to 36 or 34. There wasn't one principal who said we should include anything but the NJSIAA standards. If you don't want to do it, we'll have to hire additional physical education staff and we'll have to take [money] from somewhere else."

Rosenwald thought the district would appease Wasser's enrollment concerns by including cheerleading.

"Maybe we can get a few more kids out of gym class," she said.

Even with that revelation, the board ultimately nixed her proposed motion to include cheerleading in Option II.