Outside the 'South': High school cheerleader banned from team after "insensitive langua
Revere, MA
A high school cheerleading captain has been banned from the team after tweeting about illegal immigrants.
Caley Godino, a senior at Revere High School in Massachusetts, was disciplined after making the controversial comment online.
She wrote: ‘When only 10 percent of Revere votes for mayor cause the other 90 percent isn’t legal.’
After other students complained about the comments, the school banned her from cheering for the rest of the season.
She wrote: ‘When only 10 percent of Revere votes for mayor cause the other 90 percent isn’t legal’
But Godino told Fox25 that her comment was a political statement and not racial – because she didn’t specify any race.
She said her comment was in response to her teacher’s tweet about the low voter turnout in the town in November’s mayoral election.
She said she is told to watch the presidential debates as part of the homework for her Civics class – and was taking a leaf out of Donald Trump’s book by making a comment about a topical issue.
‘I see Donald Trump a lot,’ she told the station. ‘I don’t see what’s so different. I’m starting to follow along with him.’
Godino said her comment was a political statement and not racial – and that she had been responding to her teacher’s tweet about the low voter turnout in the town in November’s mayoral election.
Godino said she was taking a leaf out of Donald Trump’s (pictured) book by commenting on a topical issue
‘[The school] didn’t give me any clear answers,’ the teenager added to the Revere Journal.
‘I still don’t exactly understand why I am in trouble. I can’t go to any school events and I got removed from the cheerleading team and I can’t even attend a game.
‘It’s my senior year and I was captain of the team.’
And Godino’s mother Lauren Kelley says her daughter’s punishment is extreme and the school has only punished her because of the backlash.
‘Because of other people’s overreaction, they felt she should be punished for that and I didn’t find that fair at all,' she said.
However, Revere Superintendent Dianne Kelly said Godino is not being punished for the tweet alone – but did not elaborate further.
She added that the school district believes in freedom of speech, but will not tolerate ‘insensitive language’.
‘If you’re going to stand up and say something that other people will find offensive or hateful, then you need to be prepared to deal with the ramifications of that.’
The school is now preparing a curriculum to teach students about cultural sensitivity.
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