SANDY, Utah (ABC 4 News) – The Canyons School District is investigating reports of hazing on the Jordan High School wrestling team.
“We received late last week reports of alleged hazing,” said Jennifer Toomer-Cook, Canyons School District spokesperson. “We immediately launched an investigation, during the investigation we were able to confirm a few instances of hazing and we have taken steps according to policy.”
A parent of one wrestler told ABC4’s Kim Johnson his son was one of several boys kicked off the team Wednesday after a parent saw a comment on Facebook and notified the district. “I think it's more of the boys goofing off than a hazing incident,” said Cody Raddon.
But goofing off is not how the district sees it. Raddon said parents are not allowed to discuss the details of the hazing allegations or how many students are involved.
The district would not confirm what disciplinary steps have been taken, but Raddon said many parents are upset with how the investigation was handled.
“None of the parents were notified until the day of when they got kicked off the team, these were all boys who were going to go to state, you know scholarships were involved,” he said.
Hazing is against state law and the district said it has a no tolerance policy. It's unclear whether any criminal charges will be filed. For his son's sake, Raddon hopes none are.
“This is a learned behavior, it happened to them, they see it happen to other boys, so instead of assisting these boys with help lets make an example of them and screw up their lives more or less,” he said.
