High School Reverses Decision, Allows Cheerleader With Down Syndrome on Field

Grace Key has a very passionate squad cheering her on: They’re called her family. While her entire cheerleading team was performing on the playing field at Calhoun High School recently, the Georgia teen was relegated to the sidelines, forced to do her cheers from behind a fence, according to ABC’s News Channel 9.

“After spending her summer going to practices and learning all the different cheers, someone decided it would be a issue to have Grace on the field cheering with everyone else,” read a note by Key’s sister Cara that friend Camille Echols posted to Facebook. A video that accompanies the post shows Key, in her cheerleading uniform, enthusiastically cheering when the school’s team scores, except she’s barricaded from her friends, who are on the field.

Key looks like she’s enjoying herself, but according to her mom, she was heartbroken. “People with Down syndrome have feelings, and yesterday Grace’s feelings were hurt,” Cara wrote.

Echols wrote on the same post, “The cheer coach also wouldn’t let Grace ride the bus with the other cheerleaders. And when she showed up for pictures for the program, she did not place her in the group photo!!!”

“They didn’t care one bit to have Grace in the pictures, so they could get gratification for letting someone with special needs be on the cheer team,” she continued. “But they’re getting gratification for not even including her and that is wrong.” Echols asks readers to call the school district if they agree that it was wrong to exclude a child with special needs.

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This prompted the school to release a statement about the cheer coach’s actions, saying officials would address the situation “by meeting with the parents and/or guardians to hear their concerns and address them quickly and appropriately.” Undeterred, the family set up an online petition, Let Grace Cheer, on Change.org; it currently has over 5,500 “signatures.”

“What school does she go to? This is hard to watch,” wrote one Facebook user. “This really upsets me! It’s not only about inclusion … it’s discrimination!” another chimed in. In response to the outrage, school officials apparently agreed to meet with Key’s mother, then released a statement announcing that they’d come to a resolution: The teen would be allowed on the field to cheer before the game starts.

“Understanding that there are certain limitations of students with special needs, the cheerleading coach invited a student with Down Syndrome to participate in pre-game activities which includes cheers, dances and being on the field while the band enters and the football players run through the sign,” part of the statement read. “While the student did not meet the try-out qualifications, she has been included as an honorary member of the team.”

In the statement, Carrie and Dan Key spoke about their meeting with school officials on behalf of their daughter and seemed to express satisfaction in the decision. “We appreciate the support of Calhoun City Schools,” they said in a statement. “Today’s meeting is an example of how we can work together to reach a mutually beneficial decision in the best interest of all students.”

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But for some people, the school’s backpedaling and compromise are too little, too late. Many feel Key should be allowed on the field with the other members of her squad, since she has the routines down pat. “There shouldn’t have to be a petition for this girl to be treated the same as everyone else. Shame on this school system,” a fellow Georgian commented on Key’s Change.org page.

Calhoun High School officials added that they’ve brought a former cheer coach, Tonya Reeves Turner, out of retirement. “We are excited that Coach Turner will lend support for Grace so that she may choose to participate with her peers on the field,” Key’s parents included in their statement. Her mom added that, in advocating for Key, she hoped to be speaking “for all exceptional students.”

Read Camille Echols full post of Cara Keys note.

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