Parents say their dance team kids are being bullied by coaches
OREGON CITY, Ore. – Some high school dance team members are wanting to quit, others are getting suspended and parents say the girls are being bullied.
But school officials at Oregon City High School say that's not the case.
The dance team has a new coaching staff this year. They suspended two of the team's captains because of their attitudes, parents said.
School officials couldn't make public the details about the discipline, but it made parents mad enough to complain.
"I really do believe that those coaches have been bullying our girls," said Amy Colvin, who said dance team members all too often would finish their practice in tears.
"We implemented a parent at every practice policy because our girls were coming home crying because the coaches were so mean," she said.
According to parents, there was a lot of yelling by the coaches and a lot of profanity used toward the kids.
"In my estimation that is wrong," said Oregon City High Principal Nancy Bush-Lange after Wednesday night's basketball playoff game. "However, there were allegations made, so we investigated thoroughly the whole situation. We would not keep our coaches if we felt there was any impropriety, and we think there is none. So we’re moving forward."
A reporter wasn't allowed to talk to any of the coaches on the dance team during practice and was told it was a closed practice.
While the practice was closed to the media, it was also closed to dance team members' parents. Colvin and other parents think that's payback for complaining.
The decision was made the day after the parents talked with administrators.
"Practices have always been closed," said Bush-Lange. "If you go to any sports practice, they're closed for practice purposes, because parents can be distracting to their players or to their dancers or whatever, so they're typically always closed."
"We don't trust the administration," said Colvin. "I trust the other parents on the team. And if another parent was there, I'd be fine with letting my daughter be there. I don't trust the administration."
Some team members stayed away from Wednesday night’'s practice in protest. They were told if they weren't at practice Wednesday, they wouldn't be able to be in a competition this Saturday. And if they wanted to compete at state in two weeks, they need to be at practice Monday.
The girls' parents contacted us about what happened. If there's something you want us to look into, you can email us at newstips@katu.com.
Hey this helicopter parent non-new is still around? Â Maybe your kid just isn't good. Â Given that a team of many kids only a few complained? Â Sounds fishy. Â Dance require strong physical abilities, and looking at the parent, I doubt the family is all that lean. Â
If you want the definition of a dance coach who bullies her students as well as the parents you should try watching some episodes of Dane Moms, the coach/dance instructor is Abby Lee Miller and she yells at these little girls and their mothers, if she is upset with the mom she will take it out of their daughter. Â She yells at the girls and their moms and has even called the mothers and even the little girls names. Â These girls are as young as 7 years old, and are told that they are supposed to save their tears for their pillows. Â Â
It's not that the coaches are bulling us it's the way they approached this problem with the dancers.mThose two girls give their all to this team and get nothing back. There is 2 weeks till state and it was unnecessary for them to cause such an uproar. I believe these coaches do pick favorites and don't treat everyone equal on the team. It makes it hard to come to practice and have a good attitude because of those coaches. I do appreciate the work and time they have spent on this team I just wish they could of made it a enjoyable year, a year I don't want forget. Dance team is suppose to be about love and family and working together. Not about lies and drama. It's sucks that this is what the freshman will remember for their freshman year.
I'm the older sister of a girl on the JETS dance team and I was on the dance team previous years and I just want to say that even when I was on the team with completely different coaches practices have ALWAYS been closed to everyone! and even when we had different coaches there were days I would go home crying too, not because of the coaches but because of stress or the teams lack of focus. The team hasn't had much experience with strict coaches and punishments in the past but the teams need someone to push them to their full potential and because of the coaches they have now they really are SO much better then ever before. So I disagree completely with this.. the Coaches are NOT bullies they are actually all VERY nice people that would never intentionally hurt someone on this team. The Coaches are doing an amazing job and don't deserve to be bashed on like this!
@JetDancer12Â I totally agree with you.
I am currently a freshman at Oregon city high school. I was on the jets dance team earlier this year and quit before the state season. And I can say for a fact that the coaches would never hurt any of us. They love us like daughters and would never âbullyâ us. Yes they can be rough on us but never would they do anything that our parents wouldnât approve of. But, however I did often come home from practice crying though not from the coaches, from the other girls. The daughters of the two moms in this video (along with a few other girls) were often the cause of my distress on the team and to be honest the main reason that I didnât continue on to state season. I feel that this report is STRONGLY one sided and as coaches of one of the most well known group of girls in the area they shouldnât have to be portrayed as âbulliesâ. Just today OCHS had an assembly for the incoming freshman and class of 2017. The team came and danced and they did amazing (as usual) though when the coaches went up to introduce the dancers the room went eerily silent. I fear now all those 8th graders who had dreams of becoming a JET when they entered high school (such as I did) just had their dreams ripped away from them because of a false news report and rumors. These girls should know they CAN trust the coaches of the amazing OCHS JETS to be as loving and caring as they ACTUALLY are. Not see them through the eyes of some unhappy mothers.
@OnMyMind789Â Oh my god I'm not sure who this is but you are amazing! haha I totally feel the same way:) thanks for speaking up are telling the truth:) love ya girl!;)
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Obama voting Liberals are the biggest bullies around
@Lo Pan That's right little man, now kneel for your daily.
I am a former member of this team and was on it for four years and was a captain my senior year.  I saw the team go through some major changes during that time and I have to say there was more then one night when I came home crying but it wasn't because of the coaches.  It was due to a lack of focus and lack of drive.  Dance team isn't easy and needs everyone to make it work but when the girls are able to get away with breaking almost every rule about practice it isn't going to make things better.  My other statement is for the girls who skipped the mandatory practice and wouldn't be allowed to compete, that was rule as long as I was on the team. And, if you look at any other sports team if you miss practice you don't get to play you ride the bench that is the way it has always worked.  Its part of a coaches job is to be hard on the team, it is what pushes a team to work harder and strive to be the best.  If a coaches is meant to be a mentor and someone for advice not a best friend that you chat with over facebook.  Getting suspended for negative attitude was also a rule when I was on the team so far I can't see what the coaches have done that is so terrible.  The last thing I have to say is that parents can't keep fighting the battles for their kids.  They aren't always going to be there to hold their hand and take care of all their problems for them. The real world isn't all sunshine and roses and high school is meant to prepare you for that, people need to learn how to deal with people themselves and stand up on their own two feet.
Well.... at least most of the postings here are irrelevant and uninformed. Being a coach of youth sports is NOT like when many of you reflect on your own younger days. I have coached over 30 teams of both boys and girls from T-ball through competitive basketball and have a daughter that was on dance teams in the same league as the Jets. Trust me on this.... true bullying exists whether YOU all think they are being babied or pampered or not. There is a big difference between parents fighting battles and coaches being manipulative and destructive, BOTH of which happen everyday.
BTW... I think K2 did try for both sides of story, and if that is the policy of the principal (or district), to have "closed practices" she should be fired! Today. This is not Chip Kelly's team.
@correctmac ....bullying is the new politically correct way of saying "don't hurt our babies"
We need to teach our children both ends of the spectrum: winning and losing. And they need to cope with both. And in between there wil be people we don't like. And maybe they're a-s-s holes, but we learn to cope. That's Important !
@Rob C 503 Sure Rob... Every 15 year old should be able to handle all situations. I never indicated that all verbal treatments were fair or productive. Yes the Jets have lost a lot over the years I watched them. Some were brought to tears, others were not. Get over it. What this really points out is that the school district should NEVER shut parents out of a school sponsored event. BTW.... the parents pay a premium price for this activity, and if I pay, I get a say. Live with it.
@correctmac .......like I said ....learn to cope. That goes for adults as well as kids !!
@correctmac Well thank goodness we have your anecdotal experience to show us all how very, very wrong we are. Clearly no one whom has ever participated in a sport or coached a sport could possibly disagree with you!
How about you consider this, Coach Buttermaker: yes, bullying does exist in youth sports. It also exists when you are an adult in the business world. If you don't learn how to deal with it as a young person you will never learn to deal with it as an adult.
I had several bullies for coaches playing football and wrestling and you know what I learned from it? How to deal with adversity, how to persevere despite the jerks who are only out for themselves and, perhaps most importantly, to understand that bullying is temporary.
Not surprisingly, I have been very successful at working around and waiting out bullying, incompetent bosses while working at several of the biggest, most successful companies in the world. Take a guess how I learned this skill? It certainly wasn't by running to a TV station and complaining publicly.
@stephcra @correctmac  You of course are such a shining example of success!!! How dare "anecdotal" evidence be sighted by someone who actually LIVED it. I am so impressed by you being so worldly that you now know there is no such as thing as bullying. Nice. Â
 As a retired business person..... yes no pension, no handouts, no inheritance, only my survival in a vicious world, (and yes wont I be eligible for Social Security for 5 more years), I too have made it through difficult times. Big deal!
BTW.... I am glad that you believe it is only temporary.... that as you obviously KNOW, is an absolute fact.Â
@correctmac @stephcra Well that made absolutely no sense. Hope you are done coaching kids at this point as senility would be a hard thing for their parents to explain to them.
@correctmac THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH
Sounds more like the kids were being babied before and the new coaching staff wasn't gonna do it....Im all for preventing bullying but just cause the kid doesn't like it or the parent doesn't like it does not mean it is a bully scenario. What happens when your kids get to college and a professor yells at them for not following their instructions, or they go into the military and a drill instructor yells at them. Are you going to goto the college dean or president and tell them the professor is bullying them, or to the training base commander and complain their drill instructor is being too 'tough' on their baby. If parents would quit coddling their kids, then kids would realize that the real world is not all daisies and roses.....there are going to be rough patches in life and people are gonna yell at your little babies.Â
@Keith .....I read two sentences of your post. Didnt need to go further. ABSOLUTELY RIGHT !!!!
@Keith ~  You are soooo right, Keith... and even those who just go from HS right into jobs will find that whining and complaining won't get them very far in today's very competitive working world..!   No time like the present to learn that the world doesn't revolve around you (or, in the case of the parents, your kids)... Â
If you want roses and unicorns in your life, you have to work for them and EARN them... :-)
Katu check out the cheer leading team same problem.
Not all teams are closed practices unlike what the principal stated.
God forbid these super-sensitive kids and their hyper-sensitive kids ever get to basic training in the military! Â
Sorry, consider this an after-the-fact edit! I meant hypersensitive parents!
NO NEED TO BULLY KIDS TO TEACH THEM ANY THING IF THE TEACHERS ARE BULLY,S IT,S NO WOUNDER THE KID,S ARE BULLYING EACH OTHER TO AFTER ALL IT,S THE TEACHERS THAT SEEM TO BE TEACHING THE KID,S HOW TO BE BULLY,S HERE AT THIS SCHOOL=BE CAREFULL WHAT YOU TEACH THE KID,S
I WAS ONCE A CHILD THAT WAS BULLIED IN SCHOOL AND TO BE BULLIED BY ANY ONE HURT,S SO I DO HAVE A CLUE
@Sherry L Campbell   Huh..???????
@Sherry L Campbell .....that is one of the most clueless remarks I've seen posted here.
@Rob C 503 YOU MUST BE A TEACHERÂ
 @Sherry L Campbell If you don't want to be bullied then you should stay off of this forum, there are some mean people on here. I'm not one of them, well maybe just this once, could you PLEASE stop typing in all caps and stop using a comma for an apostrophe.
@Sherry L Campbell ......read Cassidy's post below. It's the other side of the story !
@Rob C 503 JUST STOP BULLYING ME : I DO KNOW HOW IT FEELS TO BE BULLIED SO JUST STOP IT
@Sherry L Campbell ......no ya don't. You've jumped to conclusions. Then jumped on the bandwagon with no objective analysis of the facts and expressed your self foolishly. Criticism is not always, to coin the PC trend, bullying.
@cwpholder I SHARE HOPE YOUR RIGHTÂ
@Sherry L Campbell @Rob C 503Â
There are two sides to this story and only one side was reported. Many of the actual dance teams members & their moms have posted and they say these students and their moms are angry at the coaches for other reasons.Â
The dancers that posted today said the coaches haven't bullied them so it's highly possible this is more of a case of disgruntled parents than bullying.Â
@Rob C 503 I DON,T LIKE IT WHEN OTHERS ARE BULLIED =I WAS ONCE A CHILD IN SCHOOL WHOM WAS BULLIED SO I DO HAVE A CLUE
@Sherry L Campbell ......nope. Just a regular run of the mill person who recognizes nonsense when he sees it !
Memo to Amy Colvin: Every parent wants their kid to be a winner. Your's isn't. Stop whining. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
 Hi I am Cassidy, I'm on the OCHS Jets dance team. I'm a first year member, but my sister, who graduated last year, was also on the dance team for three years so I have past experience with the dance team. I would just like to say that the team this year is the best that I have ever seen it. The coaches are like family to me and I would just like to say I have never heard the coaches say one word of profanity or ever bully any of the girls. The competition at Liberty high school on Saturday is going to be great and stress free . Go Jets!
@cassidy_JetdanceÂ
 @cassidy_JetdanceÂ
I'm Cassidy's older sister who was on the dance team previous years and I just want to say that even when I was on the team with completely different coaches practices have ALWAYS been closed to everyone! and even when we had different coaches there were days I would go home crying too, not because of the coaches but because of stress or the teams lack of focus. The team hasn't had much experience with strict coaches and punishments in the past but the teams need someone to push them to their full potential and because of the coaches they have now they really are SO much better then ever before. So I disagree completely with this.. the Coaches are NOT bullies they are actually all VERY nice people that would never intentionally hurt someone on this team. The Coaches are doing an amazing job and don't deserve to be bashed on like this!
Goood luck at the Competition this weekend! GO JETS :D@cassidy_Jetdance I wish all the lucks to the Jets this Saturday I still love this team and hope you guys do amazing
@cassidy_Jetdance .......thank you Cassidy for sharing your experience with us. Best of luck and
GO JETS ,!!!,!
@cassidy_Jetdance ~  Cassidy, you sound like just the kind of enthusiastic young woman that will help your dance team reach and even exceed its goals...  VERY best of luck to you and your team-mates in the competition on Saturday..!  :-)
@margay1Â Aw your so sweet:) that you very much
@cassidy_Jetdance @margay1 .........your comments were very refreshing Cassidy and reassuring for a few of us "oldsters". There's a lot of great kids out there and you sound like one of them.
Do your best. The rest will take care of itself !!
@cassidy_Jetdance Â
Good for you Cassidy, Best of luck on the competition Saturday! Â
@cwpholderThanks you so much!
when will this miserable season end
@Pers Retiree I couldn't have said it better myself!
I have chaperoned some "dance team" trips out of town, and my experience was that the "dance teams" are little more than showcases for the snottiest little girls on the planet. Those kids bullied each othe and the bus driver,. They shouted obscenities out the window at pedestrians, and threw their trash out there too. They absolutely dared me and the other chaperone to do anything at all about their outrageous behavior. They threatened me with sexual harrassment complaints if I tried to make them sit down and shut up. It is, however, pretty amazing the results that can be achieved with a compact video recorder with sound capabilities. That was the last rip for that particulargroup of girls that year, and the two captians, as in the case in the story, were booted and one was suspended.Â