TEARS FOR AN EX-CHEERLEADER; OFFICIALS BOOT TEEN EPILEPSY PATIENT OFF SIDELINES.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY 

Her family and friends found her behind the bleachers at Birmingham High, sitting alone in the dark, crying.

All the needles and tests, all the poking and prodding by doctors these past two years trying to find the extent of the epilepsy attacking her nervous system didn't hurt 16-year-old Kristina Lopez nearly as much as what had just happened.

It was an ugly scene, an embarrassing scene that had sent her running from the sidelines of St. Genevieve's homecoming game in her high school cheerleading uniform, hurt and humiliated.

The school she loved, the school she had attended since first grade - the school where she had risen to become an honors student and cheerleader. That school was turning its back on her at the time when she needed its support the most.

The school's principal and vice principal of discipline had told her she had to get off the sidelines, away from the other cheerleaders, because she was no longer an enrolled student.

Not because Kristina didn't want to be a student, but because her epilepsy had progressed to the point where it made it impossible to come to class every day, so she was forced to leave St. Genevieve's in May for home school instruction.

She knew she wasn't allowed to cheer with the rest of the girls, but couldn't she just stand there on the sidelines in her uniform? she asked them. Couldn't she just hang out with these girls she had cheered with for the last two years - friends who had seen her sitting up in the stands and asked her to join them down on the sidelines?

Past football players come back and stand on the sidelines, sometimes wearing their old jerseys. Why couldn't a past cheerleader, wearing her old outfit?

The answer from the school's administrators came back: No - she had to leave. Only students and people with authorized sideline passes could be down on the field. It was the rule.

So Kristina Lopez ran off before she burst into tears, because she did not want her family and friends up in the stands to see her crying.

She waited until she got behind the bleachers, alone in the dark, then she let it all out.

``What did I do?'' she asked herself over and over again. ``What did I do, except get sick?''

Her daughter held out as long as she could, Chris Lopez said. Hung in there until the ``partial complex seizures'' - her arms swinging uncontrollably, her body shaking - got to the point she was afraid to take the chance that her classmates would see her that way.

She had never experienced a grand-mal seizure, where she passed out, but these partial complex seizures, as the doctors called them, were bad enough.

``Whenever she was at school and felt a seizure coming on, she would run and hide so no one would see her,'' Chris said. ``The stress got to the point it was affecting her work in the honors classes.''

So in May, Kristina reluctantly said goodbye to her friends and teachers at St. Genevieve's and enrolled in home school - first the one run by the school itself, then switching over in September to the Los Angeles Unified School District, which has a much more in-depth home study program.

Kristina stayed in touch with her friends, continued helping the other cheerleaders make the run-throughs - those large paper decorations the football players burst through at the beginning of the game.

The big homecoming game against Cathedral High was coming up Nov. 6. Wouldn't it be wonderful if they'd allow her to do a few of the routines with the other cheerleaders one more time? Kristina asked her mom.

``I told her I would call the school and ask Ms. (Maria) Denis, the principal,'' Chris said. ``I was praying she would say yes because it would mean so much to my daughter, with all the pain and heartbreak she's been through this past year and the stress of facing three operations early next year.''

But the answer was no.

The Rev. Gregory Coiro, director of media relations for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, said Thursday he would speak for both Denis and the vice principal of discipline, Michael Carter, concerning the incident.

``Prior to the homecoming game, Kristina's mom asked Ms. Denis if her daughter could cheer at the game,'' Coiro said. ``She was told no because she is not a student there anymore.

``But Kristina showed up at the game in her cheerleading uniform anyway, sitting up in the stands, which was fine. But at some point she came down on the sidelines, and that was against the rules.

``Every school has restrictions on who can be on the sidelines. Vice Principal Carter told her she had to leave or go back up in the stands, and I guess she ran away crying.

``Sometimes when schools are in the position of having to enforce certain policies, they may come off looking as if they are uncaring, and I can see why someone might get that impression here. But in the overall context, I think the school was justified in telling her to leave the sidelines. When they saw her there in uniform, I think it's reasonable to jump to the conclusion there was some defiance going on here.''

Maybe reasonable, but not accurate.

In written statements from other cheerleaders, the girls say Kristina was not on the sidelines cheering. She had been invited down by a couple of the cheerleaders to help fill candy bags they were going to give to the Cathedral High cheerleaders.

Coiro said that is still no excuse for breaking the rules.

``Students do not have the right or authority to countermand a decision by the administration,'' he said. ``While Kristina might have thought it was OK to go down there because they asked her, she had already been told she couldn't.

``She shouldn't have been on the sidelines at all.''

Ten years at St. Genevieve's have taught her a lot, Kristina said, including recognizing right from wrong.

What happened to her at that homecoming game was wrong, she said.

She does not deserve to be treated like a pariah by the administration at the only school she has ever known. If she had any choice at all, she would still be there. But she doesn't. Epilepsy took care of that.

Her parents don't deserve this kind of treatment after the thousands of dollars in tuition fees they have paid for her and her brother and sister to go to the Catholic school.

Kristina is torn because she misses her friends and teachers, and wants to return to St. Genevieve's if her operations are successful next year.

``I want to graduate with my class in 2000; at least that's my dream,'' she said Thursday, waiting for her home school teacher to arrive at her Mission Hills home.

As for the administration, Coiro said he suggested to Denis that she contact Kristina - not to apologize, but to explain. As of late Friday afternoon, the principal had not called or contacted the family.

``I think (Kristina) and her parents need an explanation of what she can and cannot do, because it seems they are confused,'' said the media director of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Cold.

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Photo

PHOTO (Color) Kristina Lopez and her mother, Chris, are upset over the teen's dismissal from the sidelines at the homecoming game.

Andy Holzman/Daily News