Cheerleading coach asks for job back
BY TOYNETT HALL Staff Writer
Lisa Rizzo-Troxell, Manalapan High School's former cheerleading coach of 11 years, asked the Freehold Regional High School District Board of Education on Dec. 17 to reinstate her to her position.

The board met at Howell High School.

Rizzo-Troxell offered to return as the cheerleaders' competition coach free of charge.

Rizzo-Troxell was asked to resign from her coaching position for the 2007 football season because she permitted several students to cheer at a game without proper medical clearance.

IlseWhisner, the district's public information coordinator, said the matter concerning Rizzo-Troxell is a legal issue and a personnel issue and the district will not discuss it publicly.

With no attorney at her side, Rizzo- Troxell pleaded with the board members to allow her to help her squad prepare for a national competition. She said she became concerned after witnessing what she called the negative impact the board's decision to remove her from her coaching position had on the girls.

"I understand there is a coach there now who is under a tremendous amount of pressure. I understand that the girls, as of today, do not have music for their routine, they were supposed to compete on Sunday and would have had to pull out. Not once in 11 years did I ever have to pull these girls out of a competition because they were not ready," Rizzo-Troxell said.

"I did not come to fight with you. I did not come to you to stir up the pot. I came to you because I know there is turmoil. I see my girls in school upset, crying, complaining. I hear about parents coming to board meetings when you have bigger things to talk about," she said.

"I want the girls to have a coach that they deserve, so that they could follow their predecessors and have the opportunity to win a national championship as did the teams before them," Rizzo-Troxell said.

Rizzo-Troxell said she never thought she would have to endure something like the situation she now finds herself in. She told the board members and the audience about her father and how he worked hard to move the family from Bayonne to Manalapan.

She said she would have worked with administrators to address any problems with the medical forms, but instead, she said, administrators took punitive action.

"All I have ever done as a teacher and a coach is to keep the girls first. All the things I have done for you, I always thought that you would be proud to have someone like me as part of your faculty. I always thought you would be proud of the children and the greatness that they have produced for you, I thought it would mean something.

"This is not for me. This is not about the other coach. This is not about a supervisor. This is not about that. I am not here to point fingers at people. What I am here to do is to try to bring some resolve and to try to salvage the rest of the year for these girls," Rizzo-Troxell told the board.

Kaitlyn Jeffray ofManalapan, a former cheerleader who competed under Rizzo- Troxell's leadership, spoke about the character of her former coach and called the district's action unfair.

"This is her life. This was never about a job. This was never about money. She said she would come back without money because she really cares about us," Jeffray told the board. "She was not just a coach, she was our friend, our leader, our inspiration. I am asking you to reconsider your decision."

Following all of the comments applause filled the Howell High School auditorium. The board members offered no reply, but thanked Rizzo-Troxell for her professional manner.