News > Culture > Just Say "No" to Gymnastics

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FRIDAY NOVEMBER 12 2004 7:00 PM

An 11-year-old Los Angeles girl has been suspended from her school for doing cartwheels. Cartwheels.

Apparently, Deirdre Faegre had been repeatedly asked to stop her child-like behavior out of safety concerns for the other children, the principal claimed.

Patton said Deirdre could accidentally strike another student, or injure herself, and other children could get hurt trying to imitate Deirdre, who has been doing gymnastics for five years.

Faegre's father, in a wonderful display of parental logic, argued that it made little sense that other sports were allowed, but his daughter's flip-floppery was not.

"Contact sports, apparently, are fine. But this one is so dangerous it requires the cartwheel cops," Faegre said.

Of course, we all know that cartwheels are just a gateway activity to harder actions, such round-offs.

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Comments

Sivart

Saskatoon, SK

June 2004

NOV 13, 2004 09:15 AM

she was suspended for disobeying the teachers, not doing the cartwheels. disciplinary measures WERE warranted. of course a 1 week suspension is a little extreme.

ohdannyboy707

Eureka, CA

August 2004

NOV 13, 2004 12:26 PM

I saw this story on the news last night, the girls parents are old skool, stubborn, hard-nosed, Scotch immigrants with very cool accents! The principal said the girl's cartwheels were okay as long as she kept it outside, apparently the principal told the parents and the girl to stop her from doing cartwheels in the hallways and anyplace inside school buildings...Media has completely sucked up anything the girls parents come up with and how there poor girl is being attacked for her innocent play! The real news should be Dr. Hager being appointed as chair of the FDA, not a report on a little girl who wants to cartwheel in her schools hallway.