A Minnesota high school cheerleader is suing her school district to win back the captain's title she lost for violating alcohol and tobacco policies.

But don't smirk at Andrea Warren's lawsuit, said her mother, Janie Berg.

"This isn't about pompons, skirts and flirts," Berg said. "This is about justice."

Marshall Tanick, Warren's attorney, said they are not contesting the school's right to discipline students. Warren was guilty and rightly stripped of her captain's duties last year, he said.

But the lawsuit filed this week in Dakota County District Court contends the West St. Paul-Mendota Heights School District took the punishment too far when officials told Warren she could not serve as football cheerleading captain again this year - despite a 7-1 vote by her squad.

The lawsuit seeks damages of at least $50,000 and asks that Warren be reinstated as captain.

Margaret Skelton, the attorney representing the school district, said the district has broad discretion in its rules and how it interprets them. "It's a waste of taxpayers' money for a school district to have to defend itself in a case like this," she said.

Over the past several years, crackdowns on alcohol and drug use have prompted a backlash from some parents who have complained that punishments were too harsh.

Berg admits that her daughter's behavior in October 2000 was less than stellar. Warren was caught drinking at a party. Not only was she cited for consumption of alcohol by a minor, but she also was guilty of breaking the school district's code of conduct for athletes and students in extracurricular activities.

A week later, Berg said, her daughter got in trouble again - this time for having cigarettes in her purse. That violated school district policies prohibiting tobacco products on school grounds.

For Warren, a Henry Sibley High School cheerleader since the ninth grade, the punishment was swift and severe, her mother said.

School district and Minnesota State High School League guidelines called for her to be ineligible to cheer for two weeks or for two games, whichever constituted a longer period of time. And school district rules required that she give up any leadership position on the squad for a full calendar year. The second infraction carried a harsher penalty: Sit out six consecutive games or 21 days, whichever was greater, and be disqualified from a leadership position for a full calendar year.

Despite being chosen as a captain of the football cheerleading squad for the 2001-02 school year, Warren had to give up the honor.

Berg said her daughter accepted the punishment and used it as motivation to shape up.

During cheerleading preparations for this coming school year, Warren's teammates indeed voted for her to be their captain again. That's when school officials told her that they were taking the title away for a second year.

Berg said her daughter was devastated.

Warren wants to be a college - and perhaps professional - cheerleader. Being captain not only is an honor her daughter has worked hard to attain, Berg said, it could mean the difference between a cheerleading scholarship or none.

A temporary-injunction hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, seeking to have Warren's captain's title immediately restored.

JOSH'S COMMENTS:

Wow. The first two dumbasses are both cheerleaders. Now, I saw this story on Fox News a second ago..actually, I only saw the very end of it, so I searched google for this girl's name and cheerleader and lawsuit, and this is the story I got. Now that I have read this, I am PISSED...I want to reach thru the tv screen and slap this dumbass girl silly. She is a moron of the highest order! She breaks the rules, but instead of taking the punishment she DESERVES, she sues!!?!? You are a fucking idiot little girl, and I hope the school makes you pay big time...I hope they make your life miserable, and I hope you never get a scholarship. Fact is, no school is going to want an ignorant bitch like you, because of all of this...GROW A BRAIN YOU MORON. Ugh. These idiots make me SO mad! Her parents should be ashamed of themselves...Congratulations Andrea, you are Josh's Dumbass of the Month.

E- Mail Josh at josh@thebluesite.com