GWEN TIETGEN / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Friday, February 24, 2006 6:00 pm
Several Wahoo High School students received a two-day, out-of-school suspension Thursday after a commotion erupted over their clothing.
The students, who were part of a larger group of students wore the clothing of a rival school Thursday, were suspended after refusing school officials’ demands that they change out of the clothing.
The top-ranked Bishop Neumann Cavaliers beat the Wahoo Warriors Thursday night 62-35 in the Class C1-5 subdistrict final.
That morning, Danielle Mink, a junior at Wahoo High School, who used to attend Bishop Neumann, decided to wear her former cheerleading outfit to school, she said.
“It provoked a lot of things,” Mink said. “Students were upset. I just did it to have fun.”
Some started chanting, “Go Back to Neumann,” Mink said.
She and her friends started chanting back. Staff and faculty caught wind of the commotion and told Mink to change out of her cheerleading outfit, she said.
She went to a friend’s house to change, switching to a Bishop Neumann T-shirt. She brought back other Neumann T-shirts and gave them to friends. About 10 students donned the shirts, she said.
The students were told to change and when some refused they were called into Principal Rick Swearengin’s office and suspended. Mink was suspended and wasn’t allowed to attend Thursday’s game.
“All because we wore clothes to school pretty much,” Mink said. “I don’t understand. I just think it’s a little extreme.”
Mink said as far as she knew none of the students supporting Wahoo were suspended.
Superintendent Ed Rastovski said he supports Swearengin’s decision, which he said the principal made after investigating the incident. A principal has to make quick decisions to protect students and education, Rastovski said.
“It’s not a court of law. A lot of time things go fast,” said Rastovski, who was out of town Thursday and Friday. “Nobody was suspended for wearing the shirts. It may have contributed to making this a situation, but I assure you it’s not the shirts themselves.”
When a few students wear shirts supporting a team rival, it wouldn’t create a commotion unless there’s an irritant, Rastovski said.
“If they were just walking around like that, it probably wouldn’t have created any serious commotion,” Rastovski said.
School officials asked students to remove what was causing the disruption, Rastovski said, including face paint and T-shirts.
“We don’t want it to go on throughout the day,” he said. “We have to do what we can to run the educational system. Athletics, that’s a small part of our life.”
While he refused to comment specifically on the incident, Swearengin said students can wear Bishop Neumann clothing to school as long as it doesn’t interfere with the health and safety of others.
Mink’s friend Carol Rogers, a sophomore, said she also was suspended after putting on a Neumann shirt.
“It didn’t stay in control,” Rogers admitted. “But it wasn’t just the people wearing the Neumann shirts that started it.
“I was not in the wrong there. I could wear that T-shirt,” she said.
Colleen Koehler, parent of Emily Koehler, who also was suspended, said a lot of Wahoo public students at one time attended Neumann.
Her daughter wore a Neumann cheerleading outfit to school during football season, and it wasn’t considered disruptive and she didn’t get into trouble.
Thursday, Emily Koehler wore a Neumann T-shirt and had an “N” painted on her cheek, Colleen Koehler said.
“We live in America last time I checked,” she said. “People still have the right to choose.”
Reach Gwen Tietgen at 473-7242 or gtietgen@journalstar.com.