Dear Mr.Hawkins & Mr.Kuffel,

We as parents are asking that the decision to relieve Coach Briseno as head cheer coach be reconsidered and reversed. We as parents believe that the supervision issue at Nationals raised should not have resulted in the termination of her Coach role. More than 25 cheerleaders attended that event, and there were only a few coaches/chaperones, we as parents knew that there would be times they would not be supervised. This coupled with the fact that we have solid proof that other other sports teams from Shadow Ridge are regularly unsupervised at times when they travel should be grounds for reconsidering your actions. We have confirmed with parents from both Valley Vista and Willow Canyon that their spiritlines follow the same protocol that Coach Briseno administered - no athlete was to be left alone, but rather in small groups, with two being the minimum. They do NOT have a coach or adult with them at all times as they simply do not have that many chaperones attend. If this is the district standard, then why is a coach who followed those protocols being dismissed?

This decision came as quite a blow to both the varsity and JV squads. They all adore Coach Briseno and know that she gives them her heart and soul, finding that nowadays is extremely rare. Is she perfect, absolutely not but she cares tremendously and is in it for the "right reasons". Finding a replacement with suitable cheer experience AND someone who will care as much as she does will be extremely difficult, and in our minds unwarranted.

We as parents deserve the right to have our voices heard on this as there was no rule broken per current Dysart district travel protocol, no malice & no morality question raised in our minds. If the Dysart board believes there needs to be a change in policy with regard to travel, then so be it, but this should be executed consistently throughout all of the schools. Terminating someone from their coaching responsibilities while other sports teams at Shadow as well as other schools within the district follow the same standards with regard to supervision without issue is both hypocritical and unfounded.

We would be happy to attend any board meeting required to discuss this further and make our voices heard.

Respectfully,

Shadow Ridge High School Cheer Parents