The Avonworth School Board voted Monday to attempt to thwart efforts by the Avonworth Cheerleading Boosters to collect money from the parents of two girls.

On July 6, the boosters filed civil actions in the local district court against the parents of two girls who were cheerleaders during the past school year. According to boosters president Francine Schmid, the funds due the organization are for jackets, shoes and other expenses that were paid by the boosters and for which the parents promised to reimburse the organization. Of the 32 girls who were cheerleaders last year, Schmid said, the parents of only two failed to make the payments.

Schmid said that the lawsuits were filed after a number of communications with the parents, inclu-ding telephone calls, e-mails, and both regular and certified-mail letters.

It was not until the lawsuits were filed that the boosters got a response. Schmid said that one parent stated to her that she was a friend of the local district judge, and that she planned to make a phone call to the judge and have the matter dismissed.

The statement has prompted the boosters to request a change of venue for the hearing that had been scheduled for Aug. 19.

The Avonworth School District also has attempted to influence the local magisterial district judge in the matter, with a letter to the boosters from district solicitor William C. Andrews carbon-copied to the court.

That letter contains the text of a resolution quickly drafted and approved unanimously by the board at its Aug. 10 meeting. The resolution states that the lawsuits are not authorized by the school district, that the boosters are, in fact, not permitted to initiate such legal action, and that the failure of the boosters to withdraw the lawsuits will “negatively impact their recognition by the Avonworth School District.”

Both Andrews -- in his Aug. 11 letter to Schmid -- and superintendent Dr. Valerie McDonald -- in an interview Wednesday -- point to the district’s handbook for support of the resolution’s statement that the boosters are not permitted to file the lawsuits. The section cited by both says that “There shall be no correlation or condition between a student’s status as a team member and their participation in any fundraising activities set forth by the booster organization.”

Schmid said that neither of the girls were kept from participating as cheerleaders because of their parents’ failure to pay for the items at issue, and that the matter has absolutely nothing to do with fund-raising. The parents were unable to pay for the items at the time they were being purchased, Schmid said, so the boosters paid for them and the parents agreed to reimburse the boosters.

Furthermore, Schmid said, the boosters have taken the same action in past years when parents have not paid for items.

Some of the confusion may have been caused by a form the parents of cheerleaders are asked to sign each year. The form, Schmid said, is essentially a n agreement in which the parents acknowledge responsibility for their children’s participation in cheerleading. For the coming year, Schmid said, the form was changed to include financial responsibility.

The Avonworth School Board might have known this, Schmid said, if anyone had bothered to talk to the boosters.

“No one asked us our side of the story,” she said.

The matter was introduced at the Aug. 10 school board meeting by board member Brenda Barlek, who said that she had received a telephone call from the same parent who earlier had contacted Avonworth business manager Brad Waters and who, Schmid said, had threatened to call the district judge.

Board member Patrick Stewart called the boosters actions, while using the Avonworth name, “unacceptable.”

“These booster groups are not formed to be a collection agency,” Stewart said.

Stewart, board president David Oberdick, and solicitor Andrew Evankovich -- who was sitting in for an absent Andrews -- advocated contacting the local district judge with the board’s views on the lawsuits.

In the resolution, the board threatens to withdraw official recognition of the cheerleading boosters, a move that could prevent the organization from using the school name or logo, and from using school facilities at no charge, according to McDonald.