The 6 year-old girl was removed by her cheerleading team when her parents voiced their concern over a “booty cheer”, something one would not normally associate with a child in first grade. However, the school apparently endorses the booty cheer to the point of removing kids from the team if they do not agree.

The Madison Heights grade school, which sponsors a flag football team, unceremoniously dumped the child from the team when a meeting with the 6-year old girl’s parents Jennifer and Duane Tesch to discuss whether or not to keep the cheer ended with their little girl, Kennedy, being kicked off the team “until the matter was resolved.” Which apparently won’t happen until next year, since she may not return until then.

The decision to dump the child, with no regard for how she might feel about the very personal slight, was motioned by other parents present at the meeting. A subsequent vote pushed the child from the team, and her parents were distraught over how their daughter would take the news, saying she would be ‘devastated.’

The mother had tried on three different occasions to discuss the matter with the school, only to have the coach go on a local radio station and call the mother “a lunatic” and be dismissive about her concerns.

The offending cheer? (and movements to match!)

“Our backs ache, our skirts are too tight, we shake our booties from left to right.”

Why on earth that kind of chant is acceptable for a 6 year old, when even older cheerleading teams aren’t usually permitted to use such suggestive language, is frankly difficult to comprehend. Was it worth hurting a child, her parents, and ultimately the reputation of the school in order to keep some silly cheerleading chant? Or even entertain discussion about it?

And how school officials can allow this kind of activity when one does not know what kind of people are in the audience makes the matter worse. At 6 years old, one might want to consider sexualizing their activities as highly inappropriate; that instead of cleaning up the act, they simply kicked the child off the team.

The school apparently felt returning the family’s $125 cheerleading outfit fee and “allowing” Kennedy to try out next year was enough of a consolation.