Cedartown teachers reinstated

09/21/05
Marc Dadigan

Two Cedartown High School cheerleading coaches, placed on administrative leave during an investigation into alleged nude photographs of team members, have been reinstated as special education teachers but will stop coaching the team, according to a statement released today from the Polk County Schools.

Superintendent Darrell Sorrells wrote in the statement that the investigation found no illegal activities had taken place during a June 17 summer retreat at Weiss Lake in Alabama. The teachers, Amber Fuqua and Rhonda Lindsey, and the school system “mutually agreed” they should not return as coaches.

The women filed federal lawsuits last month against Sorrells and the county’s school board on grounds of unfair suspension, but the suits were dismissed last week by a federal judge.

According to the suits, the women were put on administrative leave with pay Aug. 12 after Sorrells questioned them about the possible existence of nude photographs taken during the retreat.

The women claimed in their suits the school system has no evidence the photographs exist and violated their rights of due process as well as the Georgia Open Records Act during its investigation.