FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
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STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
Dr. Eric J. Smith
Commissioner of Education
T. WILLARD FAIR,
Chairman
Members
DONNA G. CALLAWAY
DR. AKSHAY DESAI
ROBERTO MARTÍNEZ
PHOEBE RAULERSON
KATHLEEN SHANAHAN
LINDA K. TAYLOR
Contact Person
Pamela Stewart
850-245-0509
March 13, 2008
pamela.stewart@fldoe.org
K12: 2008-31
MEMORANDUM
TO:
District School Superintendents
FROM:
Frances Haithcock, Chancellor, Public Schools
SUBJECT:
Competitive Cheerleading
The Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) has taken a proactive approach
regarding competitive cheerleading. As a result, cheerleading in Florida is being taken from a
sideline ancillary activity to the level of athletic competition. The Florida High School Athletic
Association works to insure the regulation of competitive cheerleading under the same
guidelines, rules, rights, and privileges as other sports to insure compliance with Title IX
requirements.
A letter from the Executive Director of the FHSAA of October 15, 2007, outlines the compliance
requirements of the United States Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights and FHSAA’s
member schools’ responsibilities in complying with the regulations. That letter is attached for
your review and remains on file in the Florida Department of Education’s Office of Equity and
Access, serving as assurance that the Title IX requirements are being met. All schools and
districts that submit competitive cheerleading as a sport on the Annual Equity Report and
Updates does so as certification that all specified requirements are being followed.
I hope this helps to clarify any confusion on this issue.
Thank you.
cc:
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District Athletic Directors
Office of Equity and Access
DR. FRANCES HAITHCOCK
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CHANCELLOR, K-12 PUBLIC SCHOOLS
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325 W. GAINES STREET • SUITE 514 • TALLAHASSEE, FL 32399-0400 • (850) 245-0509 • www.fldoe.org
October 15, 2007
Commissioner Jeanine Blomberg
Florida Department of Education
325 West Gaines Street, Suite 1514
Tallahassee, FL. 32399
Dear Commissioner,
The purpose for this correspondence is to request your consideration for all Florida High
School Athletic Association (FHSAA) member schools to count their Competitive
Cheerleading participants towards Title IX compliance.
On December 7, 2006, this office received a letter from Acting Chief Regional Attorney,
Arthur L. Manigault from the Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Within that letter, Mr.
Manigault advised the FHSAA to review the Dear Colleague letters from the OCR to the
Michigan and Minnesota High School Athletic Associations for guidance in developing
Competitive Cheerleading as a high school sport in the State of Florida. Upon receipt of
this information, we immediately reviewed the letters and took all necessary steps to
make sure that all criteria listed within the letters were met. In addition, we also made
contact several times with the Michigan High School Athletic Association to ensure we
were proceeding correctly in order for Florida High Schools to be afforded the same
recognition regarding Title IX that Michigan High Schools are.
We have also attempted to get written approval from the Office for Civil Rights and in
seeking this approval; we feel that it is necessary to reiterate the fact that the Office for
Civil Rights has never given written approval to any High School Athletic Association.
The Office for Civil Rights has chosen to look at each school on a case-by-case basis if
an investigation were to occur. Therefore, even State High School Athletic
Associations, such as the Michigan High School Athletic Association, who does count
their Competitive Cheerleading programs towards Title IX, has never received written
approval from The Office for Civil Rights.
To further solidify our attempts to meet the necessary criteria to count Competitive
Cheerleading as a sport please review the following information. Using the criteria
provided by the Office for Civil Rights, this information provides necessary evidence that
FHSAA Competitive Cheerleading will be conducted in the same manner as all other
FHSAA sports and in turn, should be counted towards Title IX compliance.
OCR Determining Factor #1:
Whether selection for the team is based upon objective
factors related primarily to athletic ability;
FHSAA Competitive Cheerleading:
Try-outs will be conducted on a school-by-school
basis. Most generally, they are carried out in the same fashion as football or basketball.
Try-outs for Competitive Cheerleading squads are primarily based on a student’s
athletic ability due to the regulations and competitiveness of the sport.
OCR Determining Factor #2:
Whether the activity is limited to a defined season;
FHSAA Competitive Cheerleading:
The FHSAA Competitive Cheerleading sport
season is Aug. 6
th
– Mar. 8
th
culminating with a State Championship on March 7-8,
inclusive of qualifying and final rounds.
OCR Determining Factor #3:
Whether the team prepares for and engages in
competition in the same way as other teams in the athletic program with respect to
coaching, recruitment, budget, try-outs and eligibility, and length and number of practice
sessions and competitive department;
FHSAA Competitive Cheerleading:
All policies and by-laws set forth by the FHSAA,
published in the FHSAA Handbook govern all FHSAA sports, including Competitive
Cheerleading. Additionally, the FHSAA has published specific Rules and Regulations
for the sport of Competitive Cheerleading in the same manner as all other FHSAA
sports.
OCR Determining Factor #4:
Whether the activity is administered by the athletic
department;
FHSAA Competitive Cheerleading:
The FHSAA is strictly an Athletic Association and
administers athletics only. Each member school’s principal or his/her designee (FHSAA
Representative) is the primary contact for all correspondence from a member school
with the FHSAA and is responsible for his/her athletic program. All Competitive
Cheerleading student-athletes must meet all of the eligibility requirements listed by the
FHSAA for all sports and it is each school’s Athletic Director/FHSAA representative’s
responsibility to ensure the set criteria is met.
OCR Determining Factor #5:
Whether the primary purpose of the activity is athletic
competition and not the support or promotion of other athletes;
FHSAA Competitive Cheerleading:
The primary purpose for the Competitive
Cheerleading team at a given school is to compete in interscholastic head-to-head
competition. As in all other sports, member schools must declare their commitment to
participate in the State Series.
OCR Determining Factor #6:
Whether organizations knowledgeable about the activity
agree that it should be recognized as an athletic sport;
FHSAA Competitive Cheerleading:
All recommendations for the implementation of
Competitive Cheerleading were reviewed by the appropriate committees prior to its
recognition as a sport. The FHSAA Competitive Cheerleading Advisory Panel, the
Florida Athletic Coaches Association Representative, Athletic Directors Advisory
Committee and Board of Directors each voted to approve Competitive Cheerleading as
a recognized sport within the FHSAA. Therefore the FHSAA now fully recognizes
Competitive Cheerleading as a sport.
OCR Determining Factor #7:
Whether the activity is recognized as part of the
interscholastic or intercollegiate athletic program by the athletic conference to which the
institution belongs and by the organized state and national interscholastic or
intercollegiate athletic associations.
FHSAA Competitive Cheerleading:
There are many State and National Associations
that recognize Competitive Cheerleading as a sport on all levels. The National
Federation of State High School Associations has published specific rules and
regulation for the sport, by which all Florida High School Competitive Cheerleading
Squads are bound.
OCR Determining Factor #8:
Whether state, national and conference championships
exist for the activity;
FHSAA Competitive Cheerleading:
State, National and Conference Championships
exist on all levels as well. To be more specific, the State of Florida has been hosting
the High School and College National Championships for many years now. These
events are held at Walt Disney World, January – March. Additionally, many local
conferences (i.e., Hillsborough School District and Marion School District) as well as the
Florida Athletic Coaches Association have also been hosting annual competitions.
OCR Determining Factor #9:
Whether a state, national, or conference rule book or
manual, has been adopted for the activity;
FHSAA Competitive Cheerleading:
As previously noted, the FHSAA has published
State Rules and Contest/Competition Regulations for the sport. In addition, the NFHS
Rules Book has also been published on the National level. These regulations are sport
specific just as any other FHSAA Manual or NFHS Rules Book.
OCR Determining Factor #10:
Whether there is a state, national, conference
regulation of competition officials along with standardized criteria upon which the
competition may be judged
FHSAA Competitive Cheerleading:
The FHSAA will be using UCA/Varsity judges
during its inaugural year as they have had to meet certain criteria to become judges on
the National level. Additionally, the FHSAA is researching the possibility of training,
testing and certifying judges on the State level as the sport evolves. Lastly, there is a
specific judging criterion used in the FHSAA Competitions that has already been
published. These judging sheets more specifically identify what is being judged within
each division. The score sheets also identify the maximum number of points possible
and model what has been used on the National level.
OCR Determining Factor #11:
Whether participants in the activity/sport are eligible to
receive scholarships and athletic awards (e.g., varsity awards)
FHSAA Competitive Cheerleading:
Each student-athlete as a competitive
Cheerleader has the opportunity to receive Varsity Letters as any other high school
student-athlete would. Additionally, many colleges and universities offer scholarships
for Competitive Cheerleading and for that, a student-athlete may advance to the
Intercollegiate Level and compete as well.
As the aforementioned evidence suggests, we have met all necessary criteria for
FHSAA Competitive Cheerleading to be considered a sport. We sincerely appreciate
your favorable approval of this request and if you should have any further questions,
please feel free to contact me at anytime. I look forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
John A. Stewart, Ed. D.
Executive Director
Florida High School Athletic Association
Cc:
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Richard
Finlayson,
FHSAA Board President
Tom Greer, FHSAA Board Member
Jamie Rohrer, FHSAA Competitive Cheerleading Administrator
Wayne Blanton, FSBA
Bill Montford, FADSS
