NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The Isaac E. Young Middle School football season was cancelled by Principal Dr. Anthony Bongo with three weeks left in the season following a hazing incident in the boy’s locker room.
During the incident, students on the football team were pushed up against a wall by other students. They were made to stand while other students from the team pulled down their underpants and taunted the students. There are reports of some inappropriate touching.
The taunting including singing the Guns N’ Roses song “Welcome to the Jungle“.
The incident occurred in late October. Bongo called the New Rochelle police to investigate. No charges have been filed although Bongo later suspended several students. There are reports that the entire team was involved in one way or another. Bongo’s investigation is said to be ongoing.
Games against Pomona Middle School, White Plains Middle Schools and Albert Leonard Middle School were forfeited and will not be played. The Center for Interscholastic Athletics of Southern Westchester BOCES lists both games as “CANCELLED-NO RESCHEDULE”.
Parents were informed a few days after the incident and the decision to cancel the football season. According to one parent familiar with the meeting, only a handful of parents showed for the meeting with Dr. Bongo to learn what happened and why the season was cancelled.
Dr. Bongo is contining to investigate to determine if any adults were involved, had knowledge of the incident or were not monitoring children in their charge while the incident took place, sources say. In the course of the investigation, school officials learned that hazing incidents involving the football team have been going on for several years.
There is at least one unconfirmed report that a coach may have had knowledge of a prior incident and failed to make a report which would be a violation of school district policy and possibly New York State law.
Hazing at schools is a growing problem. Studies on hazing show that most hazing incident involving sports programs go unreported.
A survey done at Alfred University found that 80 percent of college athletes had been hazed.
HazingPrevention.org describes hazing as a plague in our society. Incidents are on the rise – particularly among younger and younger kids committing increasingly more violent acts. Take a look at some statistics:
- 1.5 million high school students are hazed each year; 47% of students came to college already having experienced hazing.
55% of college students involved in clubs, teams and organizations experience hazing. - Alcohol consumption, humiliation, isolation, sleep-deprivation, and sexual acts are hazing practices common across all types of student groups.
40% of athletes who reported being involved in hazing behaviors report that a coach or advisor was aware of the activity; 22% report that the coach was involved. - 2 in 5 students say they are aware of hazing taking place on their campus. More than 1 in 5 report that they witnessed hazing personally.
In 95% of cases where students identified their experience as hazing, they did not report the events to campus officials. - Nine out of ten students who have experienced hazing behavior in college do not consider themselves to have been hazed.
- 36% of students say they would not report hazing primarily because “there’s no one to tell,” and 27% feel that adults won’t handle it right.
- As of February 12, 2010, the number of recorded hazing/pledging/rushing-related deaths in fraternities and sororities stands at 96 – 90 males and 6 females.
- 82% of deaths from hazing involve alcohol.
Data cited from the national study Hazing in View: Students at Risk, conducted by Elizabeth Allan, Ph.D. and Mary Madden, Ph.D. from the University of Maine.
The research on hazing indicated two major trends — that hazing is involving younger and younger students and that the nature of the hazing is increasingly sexual.
Welcome to the jungle we’ve got fun and games
We got everything you want honey, we know the names
We are the people that can find whatever you may need
If you got the money honey we got your disease[Chorus]
In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your knnn knne knees, knees
I want to watch you bleedWelcome to the jungle we take it day by day
If you want it you’re gonna bleed but it’s the price to pay
And you’re a very sexy girl that’s very hard to please
You can taste the bright lights but you won’t get there for free
In the jungle welcome to the jungle
Feel my, my, my serpentine
Ooh, I want to hear you screamWelcome to the jungle it gets worse here every day
Ya learn to live like an animal in the jungle where we play
If you hunger for what you see you’ll take it eventually
You can have everything you want but you better not take it from me[Chorus]
And when you’re high you never ever want to come down
So down, so down, so down, yeahYou know where you are?
You’re down in the jungle baby, you’re gonna dieee
In the jungle welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your knees, knees
In the jungle welcome to the jungle
Feel my, my, my serpentine
In the jungle welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your knees, knees
In the jungle welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to you
Its gonna bring you down, ha!!
My Old School
I went there last year. I’m ashamed of what I hear sis going on. I hope no adults were involved because I knew many of the coaches and they were wonderful.
Always the way
It’s funny how certain stories that are VERY controversial elicit not a single comment. I have seen this before. Anyone have any idea why that is?