By FARAZ T. TOOR
Susan E. Wagner High School on Staten Island has cancelled its upcoming junior varsity and varsity football games indefinitely in the wake of an investigation into reports that some of its players hazed their younger teammates.
“They’re being ridiculous,” Gavriel Kislak, a sophomore on the team, said on Thursday. “There are seniors who don’t deserve it. They’re badmouthing the team.”
Wagner High School principal Gary M. Giordano announced the decision Tuesday in a letter to parents that the school posted on its website.
“As a result of the initial allegations of student misconduct involving junior varsity and varsity players…all practices, team meetings, and games have been suspended until further notice for both the junior varsity and varsity football teams,” the letter said. “We have a zero tolerance approach to any type of misconduct. All those involved will be held accountable for their behavior.”
The allegations refer to a hazing incident that reportedly occurred at the school’s football training camp last week at Camp Pontiac in Copake, N.Y., and left a JV player injured, according to one of his parents.
Wagner High School has not officially cancelled the football season, but the Falcons cannot formally meet. The JV and varsity teams were scheduled to open their 2015 seasons against Port Richmond High School at Port Richmond Field on Friday and SaturdaY.
“They should reinstate it. There were probably kids who weren’t involved,” said Jeff S., a man who lives one block away from the school. “The guilty should be punished. Some kids are losing their college future on this.”
“I guess it’s unfair,” Christian Pavia, an incoming freshman, said. “Do they deserve it?”
The Office of the Special Commissioner of Investigations, a Department of Investigation unit independent of the Department of Education (DOE), is investigating the reported hazing. Wagner suspended one of its volunteer football coaches until the investigation concludes.
According to players’ parents, older Falcons abused younger teammates, which included shooting them with BB guns, drawing penises on them with permanent markers, hitting them with broomsticks, and rubbing their buttocks on the youngsters’ faces while they slept.
One parent also said that varsity players demanded that sophomores target freshmen.
But Kislkwas adamant that none of this happened.
“I was in the cabins and none of the stuff was true,” he said. “From what I saw, you woke up, had breakfast, and then worked on football. Everyone was too tired to haze. People said there was screaming; the coaches were there, they would have heard it.”
“The only bullying I see is from parents who want their kids to be lied to,” said Fannie Maryles, Kislak’s aunt.
While several students and their family members said that Wagner’s punishment was too severe, they were split on if hazing actually occurred. As one man came out of the school the day after Giordano’s announcement and saw Kislak being interviewed, he told the sophomore, “If you’re a victim, you should speak up.”
Kislak and Maryles denied it. “It’s lies!” Maryles said to the man. “Their coaches are great! There is no hazing!”
Susan Wagner High School and the DOE did not respond to interview requests by the time of publication.
Captions
Photo 950: Susan E. Wagner High School on Manor Road in Staten Island.
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