A mother of a Warren County Middle School cheerleader addressed the Warren County School Board at Monday's meeting. 

Tiffany Morgan spoke to request a policy change stating that each cheerleader must wear the uniform that is deemed appropriate to the sex listed on their birth certificate. This comes after Morgan was surprised to learn her daughter was told she would have to wear a white tank top and blue shorts instead of the traditional cheer uniform. This uniform change is believed to be because of an alleged student assigned male at birth identifying as a female being on the cheer team.

Morgan created a petition in October. In the petition, Morgan says, “These cheerleaders have lost the privilege to wear their uniforms because there is a current lack of policy in place stating that cheerleaders must wear uniforms that are specific to the sex on their birth certificate.” Morgan’s suggested change is an effort to prevent future cheerleaders from not being allowed to wear the traditional uniforms due to “accommodations for students who deem themselves transgender.”

The initial goal of the petition was to get 100 signatures. It currently has 595 signatures. Morgan addressed this proposed policy change at the meeting. 

“As many of you may know, TSSAA sanctions many sports like basketball, football, soccer, track, wrestling and even bowling. What is not sanctioned, however, and is not even considered a sport but rather an activity, is cheerleading and dance. If you have ever been a cheerleader like myself, or even a parent of a cheerleader, you know that this is silly in and of itself,” began Morgan. 

She says these cheerleaders put their bodies on the line and should be considered athletes. Since TSSAA does not provide participation guidelines for cheer, Morgan is asking the school board to put a policy in place. 

“Because cheer is not sanctioned by TSSAA, participation guidelines are to be set by each school administration. As cheerleading is one of the only co-ed sports or activities, as TSSAA calls it, I am here today to propose a new policy for Warren County cheerleading stating that each cheerleader will wear the uniform that is appropriate to the sex listed on their birth certificate from here on out,” said Morgan. 

“These children who try out for cheer work hard to earn their spot on the team just as basketball players, football players, etc. They look forward to wearing those uniforms. It means something to them. They take pride in it as they should. Please put this policy in place for future teams,” said Morgan. 

Members of the Warren County School Board or Director of Schools Dr. Grant Swallows did not comment on Morgan’s request at the meeting.