Newburgh Free Academy cancels homecoming football game over hazing allegations

ByMarcus Solis

Friday, November 1, 2024

Newburgh Free Academy cancels homecoming over alleged incident

Marcus Solis has the latest on an investigation into high school hazing.

NEWBURGH, New York (WABC) -- Friday night's homecoming festivities have been canceled at Newburgh Free Academy in Orange County as the school investigates violent hazing allegations.

The allegations involve members of both the JV and Varsity football teams and an investigation is underway after the incident left a varsity football player injured.

Newburgh Enlarged City School District Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jackielyn Manning Campbell in a statement said the district became aware of the alleged violations of the student code of conduct on Oct. 25.

"My team and I take these allegations extremely seriously," said Campbell. "As part of my oversight of the investigation, I will ensure that the details of the investigation guide the next steps and decision-making process. These allegations are serious and require our serious attention to the matter."

Sources told Eyewitness News the incident started as horseplay after a practice got out of hand. Players began throwing chairs at one another which left one student with serious bruises.

The district said the incident involved several people, was non-sexual, but represented significant violations of the code of conduct.

As a result, the school announced all non-league junior varsity game -- the final one of the season -- and varsity football game scheduled for this week were canceled.

"The young men are good character," said student Tyler Nichols. "I know a lot of kids on the team. They're great kids. So yeah, this surprised me a little bit."

The academy's pep rally and homecoming dance also scheduled for this week were rescheduled for next week.

"I think that it's messed up for everybody else that wanted to go to homecoming," added student Nick Thomez.

A determination has not been made whether the varsity football team will be allowed to participate in the playoffs that begin next weekend.

A Section-IX Championship game is scheduled to take place on Nov. 18 at Academy Field. Whether Newburgh Free Academy will be a part of it remains unclear.

The Newburgh Enlarged City School District says that internal and external investigations have been assigned to look into the incident.