School spirit the theme at 2010 LFO games

FORT OGLETHORPE, Ga. - It was a little less than a year ago that Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School made national headlines when it banned cheerleaders from making Bible-verse banners for the football team to run through.

Today, the school has a new principal, new cheerleading squad members and a change in focus on Bible verses as a show of school spirit.

New principal Terri Vandiver said last year's ban leaves no questions for this season, which starts tonight as LFO takes on in-county rival Ringgold High School at home. No Bible verses are allowed on the field, although fans can have them in the stands, the same rules as last year, she said.

"We corrected our signs and followed the Constitution, so we are just maintaining that this year. It was one of those things we've put behind us," said Vandiver, who succeeded retiring principal Jerry Ransom at the end of the last school year.

Senior LFO football cheerleaders Kaleigh Akins and Kelsey Curtis, both 17, said the squad drew on fellow students to make the football banners special this year despite last year's controversy.

Cheerleaders had fellow students offer their own quotes about "what it means to be a Warrior," Kelsey said. "We show really great pride in our school."

"We understand everything that happened and we just want to move on and support our school in as many ways as we possibly can," Kaleigh said.

The issue exploded in 2009 as the last LFO Warriors football game of September approached. A local resident and Superintendent Denia Reese had a conversation about the constitutionality of the Bible-verse banners, leading to the ban of the banners at a game held Sept. 25.

Last season's banners had messages such as: "Rise up. This matter is in your hands. We will support you so take courage and do it. Ezra 10:4" and "Commit to the Lord, whatever you do and your plans will succeed.. Proverbs 16:13."

Banners with biblical messages were an off-and-on tradition at the school for 20 years, officials said.

But Catoosa County Schools released a statement following the ban, saying the signs could amount to a "violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution for signs with Bible verses to be displayed on the football field."

When at games, cheerleaders represent the government-operated school, so they can not make religious statements, officials said.

The fallout of the ban garnered local and national headlines in the days and weeks that followed as Christian members of the community, the cheerleaders and students called for the ban to be lifted, and people across the nation reacted.

Despite the outcry, school officials held their position.

Instead of banners, a "free speech zone" was defined on the school lawn outside the stadium. Inside the stadium, students and fans in the bleachers could do as they liked as long as signs were not mounted on poles and bore no obscenities.

That remains the rule this year, Vandiver said. Signs designating the area will be posted.

Meanwhile, school spirit is the theme of this year's banners.

"We're trying to bring back 'Warrior Pride' so the signs are more a focus of what it's like to be a Warrior," Kaleigh said.

Tonight's banner quotes student Tylean Coleman and says, "When I think of a Warrior, I think of someone who is strong, not just on the outside but also on the inside. One who doesn't give up, only tries harder."

LFO math teacher Lisa Curtis, in her 20th year as LFO's cheerleading coach, said she'll miss the old banners but is happy to forge ahead under the new rules.

"We did what we needed to do," Curtis said.

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