Details about the hazing are not clear. Forbes said the school’s investigation has been completed and the wrestling season will resume, but police are continuing to investigate.
“The police investigation has been narrowed and is still ongoing,’’ Forbes said.
The Globe reported Sunday that four wrestling captains had been suspended. Forbes said she was prohibited by law from specifying disciplinary actions taken against students, but said “school district policies permit up to, and including, suspension.’’
Forbes said a series of antihazing and antibullying workshops are being organized for students, coaches, and staff at the high school.
The alleged hazing at Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School is the latest in a series of recent reports of hazing at Massachusetts schools.
In Andover, school officials in December moved to expel two high school basketball players for a sexually oriented hazing targeting two underclassmen over the summer. In Needham, the high school principal suspended girls on the varsity soccer team for hazing younger teammates in 2010. During that same fall season, Agawam school officials suspended four players and four coaches for the Thanksgiving Day football game for an alleged hazing that the superintendent said “went beyond what I call towel whipping.’’
While some may dismiss the reports as team-bonding or horseplay, school officials have taken a hard line. The head of the state’s association of school superintendents says hazing has become less frequent as awareness has increased.
“Periodically there are incidents that arise. Since the [state] hazing law came into effect, there’s been a significant reduction,’’ said Thomas Scott, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents. “The situations we’re seeing now are intermittent situations, not a pattern.’’
