Point Pleasant Coaches Reminded To Always Supervise In Wake of Hazing Reports

Point Pleasant Borough Superintendent of Schools Vincent Smith has seen firsthand what can happen when hazing happens on a sports team.

“It divides the community,” Smith said. “It takes a long time to heal.”

That’s why the district administration sat down with its coaches in the wake of criminal sexual assault charges and hazing allegations in the Sayreville High School football program, to remind its coaches to be on guard against bad behavior.

“I went through something like this in my prior district,” Smith said at the Point Pleasant Board of Education meeting on Monday night. Smith was the superintendent of the Woodbridge Township School District when, in 2004, a locker room hazing incident with the Colonia boys soccer team led the district to withdraw from the state sectional semifinal.

A second hazing situation surfaced Thursday in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where the Central Bucks High School West football season has been canceled and the coaching staff suspended amid allegations of torture. In Sayreville, seven players are facing criminal sexual assault charges over allegations that freshmen were held down and digitally penetrated by seniors in the locker room.

“It took a long time to settle the criminal issue,” Smith said of the Colonia incident. Four boys ultimately faced criminal charges -- three pleaded guilty to criminal restraint and were sentenced to a year of probation and community service, while the fourth pleaded guilty to a disorderly person charge.

“Our locker rooms and our playing fields are an extension of our classrooms,” Smith said. “It is important that they remain a safe place for students.”

Smith said coaches were reminded of the district’s protocols, particularly that student-athletes are never to be left unsupervised, especially in the locker room.

“Coaches should be the first ones there, and the last ones to leave,” Smith said. ”We talk about teachable moments -- this is one.”