A high school teacher captured in a YouTube clip performing a cheerleading routine in

[Momof2princess]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,311580,00.html


MESA, Ariz. — A high school teacher captured in a YouTube clip performing a cheerleading routine in front of her class has resigned.

English teacher and cheerleading coach Cristina Mallon "has elected to resign" from the Higley Unified School District, district spokeswoman Sara Bresnahan said Tuesday.

Last month, the district placed Mallon on paid administrative "as a standard district procedure" after the video surfaced. In it, she is seen performing a seemingly harmless cheer with pompoms inside a classroom as students hoot and cheer.

Click here to watch the video.

An edited version of her performance runs for less than a minute on YouTube. It made it all the way to network television, airing on NBC's "Today" show.

Mallon returned from her suspension a few weeks later. She was again in the spotlight after a student's father complained about a book she assigned, "Jake Reinvented."

The parent said the book was not appropriate for his 14-year-old daughter, a student in Mallon's freshman English class.

The book, by Gordon Korman, has been described as "The Great Gatsby" for teens. It tells the story of a cool and popular high school student who is exposed as a fraud.



Okay I watched the video on You Tube...and I am not real sure what my feelings on this are...and you

 

[U2_rocks!]

I couldn't get the whole thing to play, but from what I saw she was decently dressed in pants and a shirt. Did she do anything lewd? I'm not sure what the issue is here. Wouldn't this depend on context as well? I assume there was a reason she did this? I'm not sure this is worth all the fuss. I certainly wouldn't care if I had a child in that classroom watching.

I don't know anything about the book she'd been suspended for assigning, so I can't comment on that.

 

[punkin712]

I don't get what the problem is. Teachers always do crazy stuff to encourage their student to learn. Since I don't know the context or the story behind the events leading up to this cheer display, I'll just say it seems pretty innocent.

Yesterday on Ellen, there was a clip of a teacher doing Soulja Boy for his class and it got nothing but favorable responses. Why is the cheering teacher getting so much flak? If she had done this routine at a pep rally, would that have made it okay? Is the issue that she did it in class?

You know...Sam Walton once issued a challenge to his associates and said that if they achieved a certain goal, he would do a hula dance on Wall Street. They did and he hula'ed! Maybe the cheer routine was this teacher's hula dance.

 

[momof3disneyholics]

Why was she doing a cheer in class? Shouldn't that be done during cheerleading practice?

 

[Kim&Chris]

I watched the video and I really didn't see anything bad. Just a typical cheerleading routine.

 

[anna_chronistic]

Surely there's more to the story. I watched the whole video (and noticed that it was strategically edited to make it seem more risque), and there was nothing unusual or shocking about the routine. She is (or was, at least) the cheerleading coach, so of course she would know and be able to demonstrate the routines. There was no indication that this took place during the middle of a class -- maybe it was homeroom, study hall or between classes. Honestly, even if it was in the middle of a class, what's the big deal? It's one minute at most out of one class period.

If she really was pressured to resign over this, then that school district has some serious problems. I still think (or hope) there is more to the story. Her cheerleading demonstration is such a non-issue for me...

 

[MushyMushy]

Oh you've got to be kidding! I can't help but wonder if there's more to the story. Teachers these days HAVE to be cheerleaders to keep the kids' attention. It's certainly not something I'd ever do, but I admire the ones who can get up there and make fools of themselves just to entertain their classroom. I have a friend -- picture an overweight, matronly looking woman -- who will get in front of the kids and dance and sing and make a total fool of herself. But DANG, she can really get them to work for her and do what they're supposed to do.

Maybe instead of training actual humans to do the job of teaching, we should start building robots.

 

[Momof2princess]

The only thing I can fiqure that parents were upset about was the possible "suggestive moves" in the cheer. Heck, if a cheer gets the kids attention for even minute then you have done something.

Somehow, I think that if it had been a man doing it, it would not be a big deal.

 

[MushyMushy]

The only thing I can fiqure that parents were upset about was the possible "suggestive moves" in the cheer. Heck, if a cheer gets the kids attention for even minute then you have done something.

Somehow, I think that if it had been a man doing it, it would not be a big deal.

Or an unattractive woman. Maybe they take issue with her good looks.

 

[CheshireVal]

That was kind of a weird thing for her to do.

I can't imagine why she'd be essentially "fired" over it, but I can't imagine what was going through her mind when she decided to dance/cheer in her classroom either.

 

[U2_rocks!]

The only thing I can fiqure that parents were upset about was the possible "suggestive moves" in the cheer. Heck, if a cheer gets the kids attention for even minute then you have done something.

Somehow, I think that if it had been a man doing it, it would not be a big deal.

But if this is a routine that the teenage girls do in front of the whole school, with skimpy skirts on, how is it inappropriate for the teacher wearing pants? Unless she was showing them some special routine that she knew, and that they hadn't been taught? Unfortunately I didn't get to see the whole thing, so I cannot tell if there were suggestive moves in it or not. But generally speaking, if it's OK for the girls to do, then it's OK for their coach, surely?

As others have said, it's too hard to judge from this clip whether it was really inappropriate or not. But even if her cheer was too suggestive, it's not the worst thing she could have done in the classroom, and if she's an otherwise good teacher then why would they push her out over this? I know she had that other suspension, and maybe this cheer thing is the final straw. But based on the "cheering in the classroom" issue alone, I wouldn't have thought she deserved to be fired.

 

[momof2inPA]

My guess is she is very immature for a teacher. Why in the world would she do that in class? I bet she's a good cheerleading coach, though.

 

[Momof2princess]

But if this is a routine that the teenage girls do in front of the whole school, with skimpy skirts on, how is it inappropriate for the teacher wearing pants? Unless she was showing them some special routine that she knew, and that they hadn't been taught? Unfortunately I didn't get to see the whole thing, so I cannot tell if there were suggestive moves in it or not. But generally speaking, if it's OK for the girls to do, then it's OK for their coach, surely?

Good point....

 

[MushyMushy]

That was kind of a weird thing for her to do.

I can't imagine why she'd be essentially "fired" over it, but I can't imagine what was going through her mind when she decided to dance/cheer in her classroom either.

I could see a teacher doing it for any number of reasons. We had a teacher at the high school shave his head -- I can't remember exactly what the kids had to do, but if they did X, then he would shave his head. And all the kids banded together and did it (I'm thinking raising money for something), and he shaved his head. Maybe she did something similar -- if they all did well on a test, she'd do a cheer.

This isn't a popular notion with a lot of parents, but students actually LIKE many of their teachers and have a good rapport with them. So, some frivolity might go on in the classroom. If that leads to better productivity, then where's the problem?

 

[CheshireVal]

My guess is she is very immature for a teacher. Why in the world would she do that in class? I bet she's a good cheerleading coach, though.

A lot of young teachers (who work in junior high and high school) make the mistake of trying to be "one of the kids." They want to be the cool teacher-- they see themselves as a friend to the kids more than an adult figure.

I've known more than a few teachers in their early 20s who were either let go or reprimanded because of this issue.

 

[Camicar]

Meanwhile a teacher in our school who threatens to kill kids (in a joking way of course, she says) is still teaching.

While I don't necessarily think it was terribly professional to do a cheer in class, really it's no big deal and I couldn't imagine bother complaining about it. But then again, I'm not a big butt clencher either.

 

[poohandwendy]

The most disturbing thing I noticed about it is the editing to repeat her moves over and over again.

 

[jipsy]

My guess is it was because she shook her *** once, and her ****s jump up and down when she does. However, I've seen junior high school girls do alot worse.

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

I could see a teacher doing it for any number of reasons. We had a teacher at the high school shave his head -- I can't remember exactly what the kids had to do, but if they did X, then he would shave his head. And all the kids banded together and did it (I'm thinking raising money for something), and he shaved his head. Maybe she did something similar -- if they all did well on a test, she'd do a cheer.

This isn't a popular notion with a lot of parents, but students actually LIKE many of their teachers and have a good rapport with them. So, some frivolity might go on in the classroom. If that leads to better productivity, then where's the problem?

I agree!

I watched the video and thought it was maybe a little silly - no more.

I am with others wondering if there was more to it - this can't be it!?

 

[MUFFYCAT]

I feel sorry for the teachers today if you're going to get fired over something like that.

I'd give anything to have these young energenic teachers then the boring ones I had who stood there and made half the kids go to sleep.