Felony charges against the 3 teenagers have been bargained down to a misdemeanor, which placed a mandate on the judge.
The 3 students have not been back at school since last June when they were charged in the hazing scandal. It was a long-standing tradition in Rye in which 8th graders were sometimes paddled by high school students. Police say in this case several of them were taken to a park and beaten with a 2-by-4.
Storm Armstrong, now a freshman, was nearly paddled himself last year, but managed to avoid it.
"Definitely, if I had gotten sucked in and went over to a friend's house, I definitely would've gotten paddled, and gotten bullied," he said.
The schools superintendant put out a statement saying, "Good character and kindness have always been a focus in our schools, but we are placing a greater emphasis on those principles in light of last June's incident."
Meanwhile, storm and others agree that even though the case brings no stiff penalties, it still brings awareness and undoubtedly an end to a tradition that had clearly gotten out of hand.
"It was pretty bad. I guess it was pretty bad and I guess some kids got hurt," he said.
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