The parents of a Black high school cheerleader in Pennsylvania have filed a federal racial discrimination lawsuit claiming peers, coaches, and school officials repeatedly singled out their daughter, including forcing her to crawl on the floor like a “pet” while a white teammate pretended to walk her with an imaginary leash.
The 40-page lawsuit, filed Nov. 7 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, alleges that coaches at Cumberland Valley High School in Mechanicsburg subjected the girl to disproportionate discipline, assigned her trivial tasks, excluded her from team photos, and dismissed any concerns she expressed about the mistreatment throughout the 2023-24 season.
The lawsuit cites several constitutional violations, including breaches of Title VI, the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, First Amendment retaliation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The family is demanding a jury trial.
According to reports, the lawsuit names multiple defendants, including school district Superintendent Mark Blanchard, high school Principal Jesse Rawls Jr., Athletic Director Michael Craig, board member Bud Shaffner and coaches Kristi Shaffner and Bethany Mullin, who are the wife and daughter of Bud Shaffner; as well as coaches Amanda Peterson Martin and Talia Merlie, and Tanya Pickel of the CV Eagles Cheerleading Boosters.
The lawsuit states that the coaches “did everything in their power to take away (her) enjoyment of the sport solely because of her race,” beginning when she joined the team in the summer of 2023.
The lawsuit claims that despite being awarded for her “elite” tumbling skills, one coach told the student she wasn’t “cheerleader-like.”
The plaintiffs are being represented by the Farneth Law Group LLC out of Pittsburgh and Brenlove & Fuller LLC out of Bridgeville, Pennsylvania.
The lawsuit accuses the coaching staff of harassment and discrimination that began in middle school and continued with “microaggressions” during high school.
The coaches ignored her achievements, forced her to film all the cheer routines from the stands during tournaments, assigned her the heaviest equipment duties without rotating the tasks among others, and took team photos without her, the complaint alleges.
Even when the girl appeared in the photos, she was sometimes cropped out or “obscured” in online posts, according to court documents. When boarding a bus for a football game, the Black cheerleader was often forced to wait until her white teammates were “boarded and seated” before she could get on.
“This call back to the Segregation Era was enforced by coaches and the other cheerleaders,” the lawsuit states.
The action also describes “humiliating” bullying incidents during a competition in Florida, where the girl was allegedly pressured to get on all fours and act like an animal while being filmed by the other girls in their hotel room.
The lawsuit claims staff was aware of the incident, as Pickel (one of the cheer boosters) allegedly sat next to the girl on the flight home and advised her not to tell anyone, including her parents. Eventually, the girl did reveal the pet-walking incident to her parents in June 2024, and another parent reportedly corroborated what happened.
In the lawsuit, the parents claimed their daughter often cried after practice or events, withdrew socially, stopped participating in activities, asked to transfer schools, and posted a prayer on the wall above her light switch.
Her parents reported the harassment to Craig, the athletic director, in April. Although Craig said he would investigate, the lawsuit claims he did not follow up or address the issues.
The girl’s father raised the issue at school board meetings on May 6 and May 20. The lawsuit claims board member Bud Shaffner angrily confronted and threatened the father after the second meeting but piped down when he noticed another parent recording the encounter on her phone.
The lawsuit alleges that after the May 20 board meeting, the father faced retaliation, including efforts to have him fired from his job. However, the specifics of these attempts and the identities of those involved are not detailed in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed after an investigation into the cheerleading program found no misconduct, but the action claims the probe was simply a dog-and-pony show that failed to address the issues properly.
The lawsuit also states that the only other Black cheerleader at the school “in recent memory” reported similar racial discrimination and expressed regret over not quitting before her senior year.
The lawsuit cites previous reports and statements from then-Auditor General Eugene DePasquale and then-Superintendent David Christopher, which highlight concerns about bullying and racial discrimination within the school district, emphasizing that these incidents were underreported.
