Ms. Kerri Collins This is Me

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1. 1. Osceola News Gazette - The #1 Weekly Newspaper awarded by the Florida Press Association - Florida Sun Publications

   www.oscnewsgazette.com/article - [Cached]

   Published on: 6/22/2002   Last Visited: 6/22/2002

   An Osceola County School District investigation of former high school teacher and cheerleading coach Kerri Collins shows hundreds of e-mail exchanges and business materials for her new private cheerleading gym were created during the work day.
   
   The investigation was launched in April after Collins admitted she allowed Adrian Free, an 18-year old high school senior from Mississippi, to cheer with the 29 members of Osceola High School's Kowboy Elite Cheerleading squad.
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   Collins was also named coach of the year from the same group.
   
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   School officials discontinued the investigation when Collins and her Melbourne lawyer, David Larkin, reached a resignation agreement with the school district that terminated Collins' employment as of May 29, and prevents school officials from making "disparaging remarks" about Collins.
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   School officials discontinued the investigation when Collins and her Melbourne lawyer, David Larkin, reached a resignation agreement with the school district that terminated Collins' employment as of May 29, and prevents school officials from making "disparaging remarks" about Collins.
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   District records also show that Collins directed hundreds of dollars in OHS cheerleading funds to her sister's Mississippi business, Springz Cheer Co. Records show that Collins paid Springz Cheer from the Kowboy Elite fund for choreography and music editing services provided by Alford during the past year.
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   An April 1 e-mail from Collins to Alford on the morning that the Bowling Green officials visited OHS hinted of the scandal that would embroil the high school.
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   Collins wrote.
   
   During the month-long investigation, school officials confiscated Collins' computer hard drive from her office at Gateway High School, where she was a physical education teacher.
   
   District officials also interviewed seven members of the Osceola elite squad and collected financial records for the cheerleading accounts at Osceola. The accounts were handled by Collins and not school officials.
   
   A search of Collins' computer hard drive found nearly 300 e-mails related to Collins new private cheerleading gym. The e-mails concerning Top Dawg Athletic Center were written between Feb. 28 to April 30.
   
   School records show the e-mails, which detail Collins' effort to get Top Dawg up and running, were written during her planning period at work.
   
   Collins drafted practice schedules, try-outs, fliers and other business materials related to the private cheerleading gym on school district computers during the work day and was often in contact with Cassie Lanier, her business partner for Top Dawg, and various cheerleading gear vendors, school records show.
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   Several Kowboy Elite squad members from Osceola who graduated in May will work as staff members at the gym, according to Collins.
   
   Collins said she is still considering whether to hire Free to work at the gym, which offers cheerleading instruction and private lessons to members of the center's various competitive squads.
   
   Collins said Thursday that "surprisingly enough" Top Dawg has not lost any clients after making some "general classifications" with parents of Top Dawg cheerleaders regarding recent media attention.
   
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   "(Collins) made a mistake and owned up to it and that's why I went into business with her," Lanier said Friday.
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   Besides questioning Collins about her excessive personal e-mail usage, district officials also inquired about the financial aspects of the cheerleading program at Osceola.
   
   District officials will not audit the cheerleading accounts Collins controlled.
   
   However, notes taken by district officials during an interview with Collins said there were inconsistencies in the squad's donation records and that Collins had an "unclear explanation on financials."
   
   More district notes from the same interview said Collins did not do the necessary financial reporting and annual reports required by the district, according to school records.
   
   The elite squad's account held more than $18,000 at one point during the year.
   
   Each of the 30 members of the squad were required to pay or raise at least $700 for the trip to the national competition held in Nashville, Tenn. Collins expenses, which included clothing, accessories, hotel and travel, were paid from the squad's fund.
   
   The squad's assistant coach's expenses were also paid from the squad's fund.
   
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   "I shouldn't have to take money out of my own pocket to go to nationals," Collins said.
   
   Collins said it is a common practice for a coach's expenses to be paid for by a team's account. She said she did not receive supplemental pay from the district to coach the competition squad.
   
   However, Collins maintains she took great care to ensure her records were complete and accurate.
   
   Collins' health benefits with the district expire Aug. 4.
   
   Collins, 35, first began teaching at Osceola in 1993, but has since taught at several other schools in the district while maintaining her coaching position at Osceola since her first year at Osceola.
   
   Collins said she had planned on resigning at the same time anyway to pursue her new business, although "it was not a very good way to go out."
   
   "Short of bleeding, I don't know how I can be punished anymore than I have," Collins said.
   
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2. 2. newsherald.com: Osceola High stripped of cheerleading championship

   www.newsherald.com/articles/20 - [Cached]

   Published on: 5/5/2002   Last Visited: 5/6/2002

   The Osceola County school district also is investigating coach Kerri Collins for allowing Adrian Free, a senior at Ocean Springs High School in Ocean Springs, Miss., to join the team, practice with it and compete in the championship in late December.
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   Collins, longtime cheerleading coach at Osceola High, also is a teacher at Gateway High School in Kissimmee.
   
   After examining the highly irregular rules violation, the cheerleading organization decided not to ban Osceola High's Kowboys squad from participating in future competitions.
   
   © The News Herald

3. 3. Osceola News Gazette - The #1 Weekly Newspaper awarded by the Florida Press Association - Florida Sun Publications

   www.oscnewsgazette.com/article - [Cached]

   Published on: 4/27/2002   Last Visited: 4/27/2002

   Coach Kerri Collins, a teacher at Gateway High School who has been the cheerleading coach at Osceola for about eight years, said in an e-mail exchange that after seeing transfer paperwork for the student, she never followed through to make sure the process had been completed.
   
   "I made an assumption and that was entirely my fault," said Collins. "Since eligibility is never an issue with cheerleading since we are not sanctioned by the (Florida High School Activities Association), I never gave it a thought."
   
   The male student in question sent Collins a try-out video in the fall and said he would be moving to Osceola County later in the year, said Collins.
   
   "No one recruited him; rather he recruited us," she said.
   
   Collins said she did not know the student before he tried out for the squad and normally does not allow students to vie for a place on the squad after designated try-outs.
   
   "However, I think with the birth of my child this past year, I have softened," she said.
   
   Because the student came so late in the year, around Thanksgiving, he could not be incorporated into most of the routine but she "allowed him to tumble, dance and hide."
   
   After returning from the competition a little after the new year, Collins said the boy grew homesick, changed his mind about his senior year and returned to his mother's home out of state.
   
   "This has left us with the appearance of wrongdoing and that is simply not the case," she said.
   
   ...
   Collins said the World Cheerleading Association has been informed of the error but has not responded.
   
   ...
   Collins stepped down as Osceola's cheerleading coach before any of the errors had been noted.
   
   Some cheerleaders said they hope Collins new cheerleading business, Top Dawg Allstars, set to officially open in August, does not suffer because of this situation.