McKinney North High School (commonly North, McKinney North, or MNHS) is a public secondary school located on 2550 Wilmeth Road in McKinney

McKinney, Texas

McKinney is a city in and the county seat of Collin County, Texas, United States, and the second in population to Plano. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 131,117 The Census Bureau listed McKinney as the nation's fastest growing city from 2000 to 2003 and again in...

, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, USA

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The school is part of the McKinney Independent School District

McKinney Independent School District

McKinney Independent School District is a public school district in McKinney, Texas .In addition to McKinney, the district serves the town of New Hope and parts of Allen, Fairview, Lovejoy, Weston, Princeton, and Lowry Crossing....

. North was also recently updated to a "recognized" status via the TEA.

Academics

McKinney North operates on a 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. schedule, which includes seven class periods and a thirty minute lunch period. Students may not leave campus during this time due to MISD's closed campus policy.

Athletics

Despite the school's short history, it has managed to achieve success in a myriad of events. The MNHS Ladydogs won the 2006 4A U.I.L. Texas State Championship in soccer, The baseball and softball teams also have a storied history in the playoffs making it to the State semifinals and area finals, respectively. Also, the cross-country program has qualified for the U.I.L. state championship twice and has won 5 district championships in all. Also, for Cross Country, Samantha Means won the 4A title, but also set the Texas time record. They also have a very successful football program making it to the playoffs for 2 straight years. In 2011, the Bulldogs finished the regular season at 6-4 and went to the payoffs for the first time in 5 years.

Extracurricular activities

• Band The MNHS Band.
• Debate Team The MNHS C-X Debate Team
• Orchestra The McKinney North Orchestra
• Table Tennis The MNHS TTC
• Theater The MNHS Theater
• Choir The MNHS Choir

Controversy

Scandal broke in 2006 with a group of cheerleaders from McKinney North High School. Local news media coined the term "the Fab Five" to refer to the girls. The group of five cheerleaders, one of whom was the daughter of the then-school principal, Linda Theret, became notorious for truancy, rudeness in class, and violations of the school's dress code. They also videotaped themselves drinking in a limo, making sexually suggestive poses, buying condoms at an adult store, and other acts of misconduct. Some of these videos were posted on MySpace and YouTube. The scandal broke into national news when the school's cheerleading coach, Michaela Ward, resigned in protest in October of that year and began talking to news and media outlets.

In December of 2006, the District Board hired a Dallas attorney, Harry Jones, to investigate the behavior of the cheerleaders

Cheerleading

Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...

 with parents and teachers allegedly taking no action. Then-Principal Theret was placed on paid administrative leave and later retired, and the superintendent has said she would not return to the school or any other campus.

Most notably in Mr. Jones's report, he noted that:

• A small group of "ultra-cool" CLs at the top of the North "food chain" had resisted all authority (legitimate and hypocritical) and failed to recognize how they were hurting their community.

• A few parents had failed to see discipline as a loving instruction about life--instead they had enabled their children to a profound degree.

• Theret, the principal, had failed to balance two of the most important responsibilities in her life: principal and mother. Jones demanded that she be held principally accountable.

In October of 2009, Theret joined the Laredo Independent School District

Laredo Independent School District

Laredo Independent School District is a public school district based in Laredo, Texas . The district serves the south central portion of Laredo.In 2009, the school district was rated "academically acceptable" by the Texas Education Agency....

 in Laredo

Laredo, Texas

Laredo is the county seat of Webb County, Texas, United States, located on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 236,091 making it the 3rd largest on the United States-Mexican border,...

 in Webb County

Webb County, Texas

Webb County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. The official 2010 population for the county is 250,304. In 2000, its population was 193,117, and in 2006 its population had been estimated to have reached to 231,470. Its county seat is Laredo...

 in south Texas as the new executive director of curriculum and instruction, under the supervision of A. Marcus Nelson, the district superintendent. Nelson defended his choice of Theret, who was a colleague of his during the late 1990s. "First of all, she's been a 5-A high school principal" and a successful teacher for diverse, urban groups. Theret said that her entire career had been "focused on raising student achievement....I'm very interested in the science of teaching, but the art as well."Nelson said that Theret was his first choice among forty-six applicants for the position.

The McKinney cheerleader scandal was portrayed in 2008 in the TV movie Fab Five: The Texas Cheerleader Scandal

Fab Five: The Texas Cheerleader Scandal

Fab Five: The Texas Cheerleader Scandal is a Lifetime Television drama film starring Tatum O'Neal and directed by Tom McLoughlin. The film premiered on August 2, 2008. It is based on a true story, which occurred at McKinney North High School in McKinney, Texas in 2006...

, which Lifetime Television

Lifetime Television

Lifetime Television, often referred to as Lifetime TV, or most commonly, Lifetime, is an American cable television specialty channel devoted to movies, sitcoms and dramas, all of which are either geared toward women or feature women in lead roles. The cable network is owned by A&E Television Networks...

transmitted in August of 2008; the name of the school was changed, as were the names of the students and the teachers involved.