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'Mean Girls'

Boozing, bikinis and bullying: how the scandalous behavior of five high-school cheerleaders rocked a bedroom community near Dallas.

 
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The pictures posted on MySpace.com looked like the latest installment of "Girls Gone Wild." In them, cheerleaders from McKinney North High School in Texas exhibited all variety of bawdy behavior. One shot showed a bikini-clad girl sharing a bottle of booze with a friend. Another featured a cheerleader and several other girls in risqué poses offering glimpses of their panties. But the most infamous photo of all was taken in a Condoms To Go store. Five smiling cheerleaders dressed in uniform posed with large candles shaped like penises. At least one of them appeared to be simulating fellatio. "It would be an overstatement to describe any of the photographs as pornographic, but it would be an understatement to describe them as harmless high jinks," wrote Harold Jones, a lawyer hired by the school district to investigate the incident. "Quite frankly, I personally found it 'creepy'."

The photos are at the heart of a scandal that has rocked McKinney, an affluent bedroom community north of Dallas. By many accounts, the group of cheerleaders, known as the "Fab Five," were out of control—an elite social clique that flagrantly flouted school rules but faced few sanctions. In many ways, they seemed like the stereotypical "mean girls" that periodically trigger bouts of consternation among parents. But there's an added wrinkle to their tale: the Fab Five's alleged ringleader was the daughter of McKinney North's principal, Linda Theret. Amid charges that Theret gave the girls preferential treatment, the school district launched a $40,000 investigation conducted by Jones in the fall. His 70-page report, which harshly criticized Theret and assistant principal Richard Brunner, helped prompt Theret's resignation on Dec. 21 (Brunner remains on paid leave as he fights to retain his job). But Jones's report takes plenty of others to task as well, from parents to police. "Kids will be kids, but adults have to be adults," he wrote. "Sadly, in this saga, I was struck by the reticence of many adults to accept the role of 'being the grown-up'."

The cheerleaders had reportedly been a menace long before the condom-store episode, according to the report. When one teacher told a squad member to quit chatting on her cell phone in class, the girl replied, "Shut up, I'm talking to my Mom." On a separate occasion, she offered this response to the teacher's reprimand: "Pull your panties out of a wad." "Gang members were nothing compared to these girls," the teacher told Jones. "They believe they cannot be touched." The girls were apparently just as ornery in their cheerleading activities, leading five coaches to quit in the last three years. The principal's daughter flipped off one former coach. But instead of kicking the daughter off the squad, school administrators allowed her to quit so she could try out the following year. After the incident, the coach told Jones, Theret "tried to ruin my life over this. I was called a liar, crazy, on meds." (Theret's attorney denies this.)

The problems culminated this fall under the most recent cheerleading coach, Michaela Ward. Though her relationship with the girls started off amicably, things quickly soured. Among the pranks they allegedly pulled on Ward: giving her what the report described as a "chocolate tampon" and sending racy text messages from her cell phone to her husband and another coach. When the condom-store photos hit the Internet, they triggered a firestorm. Now taking a hard line, Theret, according to her attorney, recommended kicking the five girls off the squad. But a committee of administrators from the school and the district recommended 15-day suspensions for the girls in the drinking photo and 30-day suspensions for those in the condom-store snapshot. After parents protested that the latter picture shouldn't be treated more harshly than the former, the superintendent of schools agreed and reduced the penalty for the condom-store photo to 15 days. In the aftermath, Ward warned the cheerleaders that she would kick them off if there were any more incidents. "Good luck with that," one is said to have replied. Not surprisingly, there were more incidents, including the night of the homecoming dance, when some of the cheerleaders arrived in a limo packed with students who had apparently been boozing.

All of this might have remained below the radar had it not been for Ward. In October, she abruptly resigned and recounted her experiences with the girls to the media. In the resulting uproar, the school district called in Jones, whose report makes clear that he was as dismayed by the behavior of the adults as he was by that of the Fab Five. He criticized Ward for abetting the cheerleaders' misconduct. He lambasted school administrators for giving the girls far too many second chances. And he rebuked Theret for failing to balance her dueling obligations as a mother and a principal.

The parties involved, of course, dispute these conclusions. Theret's attorney, Bob Hinton, says that she was doing her best to control her recalcitrant daughter and that as principal, she propelled the school to the "pinnacle" of academic excellence—a point that Jones agrees with. One of the Fab Five claims that their depiction as "Girls Gone Wild" is unjustified. Critics "made us out to be people we're not," she says. Ward didn't return calls for comment.

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  • Posted By: CongestedThoughts @ 01/02/2009 4:04:15 PM

    I have to go off topic here for a minute but I'm fed up with people putting their racial thoughts into something that could've been done in any color school. How pathetic can one person be to make a comment like "only in white schools". That's just plain ignorant and that person shouldn't even post if they have nothing else they can add.

    Anyways, I just saw the movie last night and it was one of those that you just raise your fist to and want someone to knock one of these girls on their you know what but what's even sadder is how the parents just as mentioned by others that they let their kids do this. It's lack of parenting and that's what's wrong with society today. No one has anyone to guide them in the right direction so they turn into a follower of someone they think better suitable for what could be perceived as lack of attention. What happens is they think it's okay to step on those they seem fit to. But what I don't understand is that it's high school and it seemed that no one wanted to stick up for themselves and get trampled on by these idiotic little girls. Which in a sense makes them week. Sure there was going to be action taken against that person but I tell you, the school I went to, the girls would've beat the hect out of them.

    It's going to pretty sick if they don't learn from this but seeing that I still know women who act like their still better than everybody, even in their 20's probably won't occur so they'll go through life having to try and follow someone. But you know in the end, things come back around and when they do, they better believe no one will be their to save them.

    Also I highly think it'd wouldn't be a topic of debate if it wasn't true or even shown on lifetime since they are one of the stations that show the truth in their movies. No remorse should be given to these girls and those that think they weren't as bad as shown on tv or even the net is more ignorant that little retarded spoiled brats.

    A good kick in the face would justify what they should've got. And as for the mom getting $75,000 shows that justice is truely blind. Everyone needs to realize that there are things like this going on all throughout the US but because it's hidden beneath illusions, they don't see it and therefore haven't a clue as to what's going on. There are girls like this, I've seen them and I've lived in VA, MD, CA, OH. Those girls are either spilling out babies from different dads or are still in denial that they didn't do nothing to nobody when in fact they have. Then they wonder why bad things are happening.

    Everyone needs to know that you're own stupidity will lead you to your own downfall.

  • Posted By: CongestedThoughts @ 01/02/2009 4:00:08 PM

    I have to go off topic here for a minute but I'm fed up with people putting their racial thoughts into something that could've been done in any color school. How pathetic can one person be to make a comment like "only in white schools". That's just plain ignorant and that person shouldn't even post if they have nothing else they can add.

    Anyways, I just saw the movie last night and it was one of those that you just raise your fist to and want someone to knock one of these girls on their you know what but what's even sadder is how the parents just as mentioned by others that they let their kids do this. It's lack of parenting and that's what's wrong with society today. No one has anyone to guide them in the right direction so they turn into a follower of someone they think better suitable for what could be perceived as lack of attention. What happens is they think it's okay to step on those they seem fit to. But what I don't understand is that it's high school and it seemed that no one wanted to stick up for themselves and get trampled on by these idiotic little girls. Which in a sense makes them week. Sure there was going to be action taken against that person but I tell you, the school I went to, the girls would've beat the hect out of them.

    It's going to pretty sick if they don't learn from this but seeing that I still know women who act like their still better than everybody, even in their 20's probably won't occur so they'll go through life having to try and follow someone. But you know in the end, things come back around and when they do, they better believe no one will be their to save them.

    Also I highly think it'd wouldn't be a topic of debate if it wasn't true or even shown on lifetime since they are one of the stations that show the truth in their movies. No remorse should be given to these girls and those that think they weren't as bad as shown on tv or even the net is more ignorant that little retarded spoiled brats.

    A good kick in the face would justify what they should've got. And as for the mom getting $75,000 shows that justice is truely blind. Everyone needs to realize that there are things like this going on all throughout the US but because it's hidden beneath illusions, they don't see it and therefore haven't a clue as to what's going on. There are girls like this, I've seen them and I've lived in VA, MD, CA, OH. Those girls are either spilling out babies from different dads or are still in denial that they didn't do nothing to nobody when in fact they have. Then they wonder why bad things are happening.

    Everyone needs to know that you're own stupidity will lead you to your own downfall.

  • Posted By: HockeyGirlMcKinney @ 01/02/2009 2:11:13 PM

    Haha... no kidding... people write in here and don't even bother to proof read or correct their spelling and the most ironic part is that they are the ones sitting here saying how bad Texas schools are. Sorry but you are talking about one incident in one school. This does not in any way represent the McKinney ISD or Texas educational system in anyway. As far as the parents, I can't disagree. Too many parents, all over the country, live vicariously through their kids and forget all about being a parent. But that is not just in Texas. Also, what happened with those girls was not nearly as bad as the movie or this article make it out to be. The coach wanted attention and sympathy and although the girls were absolutely wrong in their mistreatment of her, she was also looking for the money, fame and attention that a "scandal" would bring her and thanks to the scandal lovers, like everyone here, she got it... way to go. Seriously everyone... clean up the sh*t in your backyard before you start criticizing your neighbors. We all live in glass houses and we have all made mistakes and we all need to be a little more understanding with each other and not jump to conclusions. Don't believe everything you read and watch on TV... they are just trying to make a buck off your nosy, judgemental natures.... looks like they were successful yet again... and with a rerun no less... shameful... Hook "Em Horns!!! Go Stars!!! and... even though Romo sucks Gotta love my 'Boys!!!

 
 
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