An Arizona woman said she was fired from her high school coaching position for bringing her breastfeeding child to a cheer competition. Marchand McCauley said the sudden termination left her shocked.
McCauley told The Arizona Republic that last week, during her “routine meeting with my athletic director and my assistant coach, we sat there for over an hour to discuss future plans of the program. My athletic director took detailed notes. At the end of the meeting, she blindsided me by firing me.”
The reason behind her termination, she said she was told, was for taking her 14-month-old son with her to a national competition in Orlando, Florida, in February. She had been a coach at Desert Mountain High School for four years.
“I didn’t realize I broke a rule, because I’ve taken my child to every meeting, every practice, every assembly, every football and basketball game, every cheer competition. And it’s never been an issue until now,” McCauley added. “It’s truly heartbreaking.”
She continued, “I’m a breastfeeding mom, so bringing my son with me was the only way I could have attended.”
It was during the end-of-season banquet last week when McCauley told her athletes at Desert Mountain High School that she would not be returning.
“I’ve given everything this to this team and to get dismissed with no warning, just for bringing my breastfeeding baby with me to a competition, is unbelievable,” she said, claiming that Scottsdale Unified School District does not support breastfeeding women.
Rachel Kwon, a mother of one of the cheerleaders McCauley coached, told The Arizona Republic the entire room was stunned by the news, “Then tears just started streaming down everyone’s face. We are all still trying to make sense of why and how this happened.”
The national competition in Florida marked Desert Mountain’s first time making it in the cheer program’s history. McCauley now coaches at a Scottsdale high school.