Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Anti-hazing policies in place in both VC districts

John Gale News-Bulletin Staff Writer; jgale@news-bulletin.com

As a result of the hazing scandal involving the Robertson football team, the three high schools in Valencia County have been faced with how to address this issue, specifically, whether or not anything needs to be done that hasn't already been done in order to prevent a similar situation.

Both Belen Consolidated Schools and Los Lunas Schools have anti-hazing policies in their athletic handbooks, and athletic coordinators from both districts said they have taken action to inform parents and athletes of those mandates.

On Jan. 22, a Santa Fe judge ruled that five former Robertson football players will face trial on rape and kidnapping charges stemming from alleged hazing incidents at an Aug. 11-14 camp in Gallinas Canyon. A sixth defendant settled out of court.

In the preliminary hearing, a total of nine players testified that they were sodomized with a broomstick or were the victims of attempted sodomy.

In the fallout of the allegations, new head coach Ray Woods and the entire football coaching staff resigned before Woods had coached a single game for the Cardinals.

District Attorney Richard Flores recently told the Albuquerque Journal that he is looking into whether to charge the coaches with any crimes, but as yet, they have not been charged with anything.

The Cardinals had just come off an appearance in the Class 3A championship game and had won state titles in 2005 and 2006.

In the wake of the hazing scandal at Robertson High School, the Valencia County high schools have been working on prevention of hazing by proactively getting the word out that hazing will not be tolerated.

Los Lunas High athletic coordinator Albert Aragon said that while there have been no reports of hazing at Los Lunas or Valencia, the school district has taken information from a Web site called stophazing.org and distributed it to parents at the preseason meetings required by the NMAA.

"As soon as that (Robertson) information came out, we got material from that Web site," Aragon said. "We've spent much more time on it at the meetings, and we address that at that time. We haven't had any major issues or concerns, so we're being more proactive about making sure people know."

On page 31 of the most recent Los Lunas Schools Athletic Handbook, the district's policy on hazing is laid out. It states: "Hazing will not be permitted. Hazing is defined as follows:

A. To harass by exacting unnecessary, disagreeable or degrading tasks or activities which may result in harm or bodily injury to an individual.

B. To play abusive and/or humiliating tricks on an individual by way of initiation."

For Belen, athletic coordinator Jim Danner also said that there have been no problems with hazing at the school, and he said there hasn't been any need to revise the policy that the school already has in place.

"We have had in place, for a long time, that there is no hazing," Danner said. "None. We talk about that with our parents and coaches. In the athletic handbook, there is a sentence or two about it."

The sentence that Danner refers to is found on page nine of the Belen Consolidated Schools Athletic Handbook and instructs students to "Refrain from any form of hazing of fellow student-athletes."

Aragon said that the situation at Robertson shows the importance of preventing hazing so that the safety of the athletes is not compromised. Danner agreed and added that he is saddened by the scandal and feels bad for the people at the school that are not involved with it.

"It's a sad situation for the Robertson school district and for the people that attend Robertson because they're being characterized by this," Danner said. "I feel sorry for them. Those are the kids that are hurting too right now because they're having to answer to this every day."

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