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<p>SCRANTON &#8212; A young girl with developmental and physical disabilities who uses a wheelchair and wanted to be a cheerleader had to buy her own uniform and was excluded from team photos, her mother alleged in a discrimination suit filed against Crestwood School District in federal court.</p><p>In the suit Pamela Scarano said her daughter, Francesca, a middle school student, stopped participating in the program in October 2017 due to the district&#8217;s &#8220;persistent attempts to exclude&#8221; her. Last year the girl was named Pennsylvania Miss Amazing Teen Jr.</p><p>Scarano filed the suit Monday in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Scranton, seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages against the district and Kerri Fey, the head cheerleading coach.</p><p>A message seeking comment from the district was not returned on Friday.</p><p>The suit alleged there was a pattern of intentional discrimination against the girl that denied her the benefits of the district&#8217;s extracurricular activities in violation of the federal Rehabilitation Act and the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. The girl suffered &#8220;suffered substantial educational and developmental losses, causing a permanent decline in her future development,&#8221; the suit said.</p><p>Scarano said she registered her daughter for the cheerleading program that has a no &#8220;cuts&#8221; policy and allowed anyone to participate. She said she spent approximately $300 on uniforms and a backpack for daughter.</p><p>However, the district failed &#8220;to create a liaison and to develop directives to cheerleading coaches, as well as the School&#8217;s Athletic Director,&#8221; the suit said.</p><p>The photograph for the team was taken on a hill that made it difficult to for the girl who uses a wheelchair to join the other cheerleaders, the suit said. For the district&#8217;s homecoming parade on Sept. 30, 2017, the girl was left behind a fence with no plan to include her in the team photograph, the suit added.</p><p>As further evidence of the discrimination, the girl was never asked to have her uniform embroidered with &#8220;Crestwood Cheer&#8221; like the other cheerleaders, the suit said.</p><p>When the girl was forced to leave team because of the district&#8217;s actions, neither Scarano nor her daughter received a call from any coach asking why she was not returning, the suit said.</p><p>The suit alleged there was at least one other student excluded from the cheerleading program because of a disability, but it did not go into detail.</p><p>Scarano had much better success when she registered her daughter to be part of the Wyoming Valley West cheerleading program. &#8220;That program was very supportive&#8221; and included her, the suit said.</p><p>Despite the exchange of emails last year with Crestwood and the cheerleading coach about the problems Scarano encountered, none of them were resolved, the suit said.</p><p>Scarano said she followed up with a letter about &#8220;all the promises the District did not uphold.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_Francesca-Scarano-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Francesca Scarano</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_Francesca-Scarano-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Francesca Scarano</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jerry Lynott</p><p>jlynott@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Suit alleges Crestwood excluded disabled student from cheerleading program