PALOS HILLS, Ill. — A cheerleading coach at a southwest suburban high school was fired from her job.
School board members fired Bridget Guzior from her part-time position at Stagg High School on Tuesday night because officials said she sent an inappropriate text to a student in August.
The coach texted a cheerleader: “[Student name], no matter how much we make each other want to bash our heads into a wall (most times a brick wall) I am so proud of the young adult you have become! Looking forward to an awesome year! Drama free curse is over the b**** is gone!”
The student replied, “OMG coach.”
The district said it had previously warned the coach about texting with students. It suspended her without pay on August 30. Then in late September, she came forward to say she had been sexually harassed.
Guzior said she’s been targeted because she filed the sexual harassment complaint against the school’s athletic director.
The board said that played no role in their decision.
In a complaint filed with the Illinois Department of Human Rights, Guzior said District 230’s athletic director Terry Treasure sexually harassed her.
“He kind of made me feel welcome at Stagg like as an athlete. I play Stagg soccer. He’s a really nice guy,” Baily Murphy, a junior, said.
In the complaint the cheerleading coach describes how the athletic director repeatedly referred to her as hot, young and in great shape.
She said he made her feel like candy, not a human being – even saying he would have loved to date her if he was younger because she seemed like a woman who knew how to take care of a man. And that as a pretty, young cheerleading coach she needed to smile more.
“She wants her team on point. She’s really strict. She’s really strict. But she’s a good person and a good coach,” Kylia Nash, junior, said.
In her complaint, she details a year of ongoing harassment and said the district is now trying to protect “a loose-lipped man who doesn’t view women as equals.”