Varsity Cheerleaders and Parents Beg BOE to Reinstate JV

“Be Aggressive” is a cheer that the Manalapan High School Varsity Cheerleading team took to heart this week. At the Monday, June 27 Freehold Regional High School District Board of Education meeting the varsity team, and supportive parents, made their voices heard regarding the elimination of the Junior Varsity Cheerleading program last year. 

JV Cheerleading was one of the clubs cut when the budget did not pass for the 2010-2011 school year. Now that the budget has passed for the 2011-2012 school year, the team wanted to alert the board to the necessity of the program and urged them to bring JV cheerleading back to Manalapan High School. 

Alyssa Tower, Manalapan High School’s varsity cheerleading team captain for the 2011-2012 school year, approached the podium during the public participation forum of the meeting on Monday to explain to the board how the elimination of a JV cheerleading team has altered the cheer program at MHS.

Tower told the board that a majority of the varsity cheerleaders at Manalapan High School have been training in cheerleading since a very young age. 

“Even for the girls who never had the opportunity to cheer when they were younger, they still want to show how much they love their school, and being involved in an activity where they can show their school support and how much they love the school and just be a part of a bigger group, I think, is just amazing,” Tower said. 

Additionally, Tower argued that the JV program helps girls develop their technical and safety skills required for the varsity team, which creates a stronger and safer varsity squad.  

Without a JV team and no public cheerleading program in place at the Recreation Center, Tower said that girls who want to cheer have to enroll in private programs which cost thousands of dollars, a luxury which not everyone can afford.

“Cheerleading has made me outgoing, confident, friendly, and a team player,” Tower said. “I feel I would be neglecting my duties as a captain and a community member if I didn’t ask to share these values with as many people as I could by reinstating this program.”

Superintendent Charles Sampson responded to Tower by explaining how JV cheerleading was an unfortunate victim during the state-wide budget cuts last year. Sampson said he discussed the finances with Sean Boyce, the Assistant Superintendent for Business Administration, to see what is within the budget moving forward and what programs can be restored and what cannot. Sampson said he could not give Tower a definitive answer about reinstating the program, but said he was open to moving forward and taking interest surveys. 

Since the Freehold Regional High School District is made up of six different high schools, Sampson said that there “may [be] a ground swell for one program at one high school that does not exist at other high schools.” Therefore, he and Boyce are looking at how the students are served with the money that’s allocated in each school’s budget. 

“One of the Finance Committees initiatives for next school year is to really develop building-based protocols on the money that’s budgeted within each building and how that money is allocated for student activities. So, it’s on the radar,” Sampson said. “I make no promises other than we are certainly at the process and we are open minded.”

Sampson also said that a number of programs were reduced and not brought back, and that “that’s just part of the day and age we live in.”

The Manalapan High School Varsity Cheerleading team won third place at Nationals in Atlantic City this year, and has consistently been a successful program. Additionally, the Manalapan Braves Junior Midget Novice Cheerleading Squad won first place at the Pop Warner National Cheer Championship at Disney World in Orlando, FL in Dec. 2010. 

“There are a lot of girls in Manalapan who love cheer,” Judy Weisenger, parent of a Junior Midget cheerleader, said.

President of the Manalapan High School Cheerleading Parent Organization, Glorianne Bruno, also spoke during the board of education meeting regarding cheerleading about the label of cheerleading as a club and not a sport. Bruno said that cheerleading should be recognized as a sport because the girls have to fill out the same forms and tests that are required of the athletic teams.

“They have to hand in physicals, they have tryouts, they have to sign the NJSIAA Steroid form, they take the concussion test, they receive varsity letters, and they are also invited to attend the senior athletic dinner,” Bruno said. “There is no way you can compare cheerleading to any other club.”

In 2006, Bruno contacted Executive Director Steven Timko of the NJSIAA to find out why cheerleading is not considered a sport. Associate Director Carol Parsons responded to Bruno and told her that cheerleading is not considered a sport because the member schools have never asked that it become one. The principal of the school could request in writing that cheerleading become a sport by March 30 of any given school year, according to Bruno, but this was never done because there had been no need, previously.

Bruno said that she understood that some programs had to be cut last year because of the budget crisis, however, she said she did not understand why JV cheerleading has not been reinstated when winter track, bussing for band, and other activities have been restored. An advocate of the board of education, Bruno said she encouraged many people to vote yes for the budget, and now that it has been passed she said she is confused as to why JV cheerleading has not been brought back. 

“Would you ever think of cutting a JV baseball or football team?” Bruno asked. “I don’t think so.”