Park City cheer and dance teams rally to save coach and preserve program integrity

PARK CITY, Utah—Park City High School’s cheer and dance communities turned out in force at the Park City School Board of Education’s meeting to sound the alarm over proposed changes that may force their coach, Melanie Hiatt, to leave her post.

Coach Melanie Hiatt, hired just last year after a long stretch of volunteer-led or short-term coaching, is reportedly preparing to resign after the district offered her smaller position for the coming school year—a workload and salary structure she says is unsustainable. Hiatt is a part-time employee with a .7 workload. The proposed change would move her to a .3 part-time workload.

“Ultimately, this is not what I want,” Hiatt shared with TownLift. “My plan was to stay in Park City for 7 to 10 years and help build two successful programs. My heart is broken as I feel forced to resign when given working conditions I cannot afford to sustain.”

Hiatt currently leads both the dance team and cheerleading program, which includes separate varsity and junior varsity teams. Under the proposed changes, not only would she be reduced from four classes to two, but the dance team would be combined with both beginner and intermediate dance classes—what many students and parents called a dangerous and unfair decision.

Hiatt’s departure would also leave the cheer program without leadership—again. Despite having two teams, only one coach is in place. Losing Hiatt would mean losing both varsity and JV coverage, putting the entire program at risk. And in Park City, where access to qualified coaches in cheer and dance has historically been limited, students and parents fear it won’t be easy to replace her.

“Our program would fall apart without Coach Hiatt,” said cheerleader Brenner Nelson during public comment. “If we lose our coach, we lose the structure that’s holding everything together. Without cheer and dance, school spirit won’t just fade—it’ll collapse. And once that’s gone, you can’t just rebuild it overnight.”

District leaders, however, point to broader constraints. In a statement to TownLift, the Park City School District said:

“We deeply value student voice and appreciate the passion and advocacy shown by the cheer and dance communities during the recent Board of Education meeting. We are proud of our student leaders who care deeply about their programs, peers, and school.

Park City High School follows a student-driven master schedule that is designed to respond to enrollment trends and student interests. While we recognize that cheer and dance are meaningful and valued parts of the high school experience, current enrollment and course requests do not support a full-time teaching position dedicated solely to these programs.”

District officials added that the role Hiatt holds “has not been a full-time position at the high school for several years,” and acknowledged the concerns raised about the proposed class consolidation. “In an effort to remain fiscally responsible and preserve opportunities, we remain committed to exploring potential solutions,” the statement said.

Hiatt shared with TownLift that she is not looking for a full-time position. She is currently a part-time employee and needs one more class for next year for a viable part-time status. “I’m not looking for, wanting, or needing full-time employment. I need part-time work—just five hours, and they’re one class away from making that possible.”

Parents shared their concern over taking away a class and combining others.  “Combining Dance 1, Dance 2, and the dance team into a single class is not only ineffective—it’s unsafe,” said Lisa Phinney, a longtime district substitute teacher and parent of a senior dancer. “It’s like putting AP Calculus students in the same room as beginning algebra. Both are valuable, but you can’t teach them the same way.”

Students echoed the same concern, warning that the combination would effectively dissolve the competitive dance team and deny them the instruction they need to pursue dance at the college level.

“Dance One students don’t know how to turn, leap, or kick,” said Addie Phinney, a dance team member and teaching assistant for Dance 1. “We’ve worked for years to build this team, and combining it with an intro class will erase everything we’ve accomplished.”

Eva Salyers, Annie Bryce, and Lily Pearson were among the many students who described Hiatt’s positive impact, not just on performance and safety, but on student development and emotional wellbeing. “Having someone certified and experienced makes a huge difference,” said Salyers. “It’s not just about school spirit—it’s about growth, opportunity, and making it through high school.”

For many students, the urgency of the situation goes beyond scheduling. Several described the cheer and dance programs as lifelines—spaces where they found identity, purpose, and motivation to succeed in school. “As a senior, I know girls who have worked their whole lives to get to this point,” said student Lily Pearson. “Some of them are planning to try out for cheer in college, and that can make or break their college experience—it can make or break whether they’re able to go to college at all.”

Others questioned whether such sweeping changes would ever be proposed for higher-profile sports. “To me, this is a Title IX issue,” one parent said. “You would never do this to football or basketball.”

While the district stated that it remains “committed to supporting school spirit,” and has offered “a complementary class period aligned with UHSAA guidelines to provide training and preparation time,” many students and families remain unconvinced that such offerings will be sufficient without a consistent and experienced coach at the helm.

“We were chewing on our fingernails last year wondering if we’d even get a coach,” said parent Sarah Pearson. “Now we finally have someone real, and the girls were gearing up to compete again. To lose her because of a technicality in the budget would be devastating.”

Despite the uncertainty, students and parents left the meeting unified in their message: Park City High School’s cheer and dance programs are not extracurricular luxuries—they are essential parts of school culture and personal growth.

“These girls are powerful athletes,” said parent Lauren Tettelbach. “They’ve worked too hard for this to be taken away.”

The district shared it is “continuing to explore how best to meet student needs while working within our staffing and scheduling constraints.”