An athletics building at Lisbon High School, where an outside agency has been hired to investigate allegations of hazing involving members of the football team. Haley Jones/Sun Journal

Lisbon Superintendent Richard Green said Monday that the school district has hired an outside agency to investigate allegations of hazing involving members of the high school football team.

He offered no timeline for when that might be completed or if the team would return to the field.

“We want to make sure we do a thorough job. That’s our top priority,” Green said, adding that there is both an internal investigation and a joint investigation with local police.

The allegations came to light Friday after Lisbon canceled its game with Mountain Valley. Green said the decision was made to suspend all football activities pending the investigation.

Police and school officials have offered little detail about the alleged incident or incidents.

Green sent a letter Monday to the Lisbon school community, which he shared with the Press Herald.

“Like many of you, this news has been very difficult to hear,” he wrote, stressing that the majority of student-athletes who were not involved are “suffering the consequences and repercussions from the poor decisions and actions of a few individuals.”

He said the decision to hire an outside agency was made to help determine if the incident was isolated or part of a “culture.”

“Although this additional investigation will take more time, we feel that it is necessary to help support and preserve the integrity and reputations of our student athletes, coaches and administrators,” Green wrote.

Lisbon police Chief Ryan McGee said his department is focused “solely on the criminal investigation,” and would not address if he expected charges to be brought.

“Unfortunately, there is not much I can share at this point as it is an open and ongoing investigation,” he said.

Neither Green nor McGee would confirm whether they are investigating just one incident or whether it involved sexual assault as claimed by many parents and community members via social media. Green did, however, confirm that the incident involved minors and that misinformation shared on social media was complicating things.

Lisbon football coach Chris Kates posted a message Saturday to a Lisbon football Facebook page addressing the situation. In it, he acknowledged that many people are “upset and frustrated with the current situation (me included).”

“Obviously not a lot of information out there, but the great thing about the truth is that it always comes out,” Kates wrote. “While I feel for your children that are innocent in this, there is a process that needs to be followed in investigations like this.”

Kates added that he encourages parents of players to talk to their children and support them, but also to “stay positive, and don’t do anything rash.”

“I’ve been a coach in this district for 15 years and a student for 12 others,” Kates wrote. “It’s not an understatement to say that I’ve given a lifetime to this school. There isn’t a person in the world that cares more about this team and school than I do.”

Lisbon High School’s 2024-25 athletic handbook includes a clause addressing hazing, bullying and harassment.

“It is the intent of the Lisbon School Committee to provide this opportunity to feel safe from Bullying, Harassment (non sexual and sexual harassment) and hazing in the classroom as well as on the sports field,” it reads.

There is also a clause addressing “conduct detrimental to the team,” which says that any student-athlete can be suspended or dismissed from the team “if actions that are deemed to be unsafe towards any teammates, opposing team, any fans or spectators, officials, coaches or any personnel related to game management staff,” should occur.

Lisbon school committee member Leonard Lednum said the process for instances involving hazing starts with the school’s administration, works its way through to the superintendent and then ultimately to the school committee.

“When it comes to things like hazing, depending on the level of the severity, that kind of thing would obviously, depending on the situation, result in different forms or different levels of punishment,” Lednum said.

Lednum also confirmed that the district does conduct training for staff members before school starts on handling harassment, bullying and hazing.

“Quite frankly, this is absolutely a topic where there is learning for the students on the subject as well, that does happen in schools,” he said. “So, it’s not something that we never talk about.”

The Brunswick High School football team dealt with similar hazing and bullying allegations in 2021.

That incident took place at a preseason overnight team retreat during the summer and involved a player being held down and having a sex toy put in his mouth.

Initially, one game was canceled while school officials and police investigated, although the team and its players were allowed to resume activities after some players were removed. However, a week after, the school’s longtime coach, Dan Cooper, was fired and the remainder of the season was canceled.

Brunswick successfully petitioned the Maine Principals’ Association to have its football team reinstated in 2022. A rule in the MPA handbook states that varsity teams that fail to complete their season wait two years before competing again.

Elizabeth Allan, a professor of higher education at the University of Maine and founder of the research group StopHazing, said although progress has been made, communities still have a long way to go to combat hazing and bullying.

“Every case is different, and the behaviors are different, but many are harmful not just in physical ways,” she said. “Psychological and emotional harm occurs that can be felt for years or even decades if the people involved don’t have an opportunity to get support they need.”

Asked why hazing incidents still happen, Allan said a lot of it has to do with young people whose brains are still developing and who may not understand the seriousness.

“One of the major issues that makes hazing different is that group context that can create a coercive environment,” she said. “Peer pressure interferes with that good judgment.”

Part of the work Allan’s group does is teaching skills that cultivate healthier bonding for teams that doesn’t involve hazing or bullying. In many instances, she said, members are simply carrying out what happened to them.

Allan also said when an incident involves a community group – like an athletic team – it can create divisions within the broader community.

“People rally around teams; they bring people together,” she said. “So, it’s a big loss when something like this happens. But at the same time, when people step back and understand what’s happening, I think they understand that there needs to be accountability.”

Sun Journal Staff Writer Joe Charpentier contributed to this story