Report: Sayreville H.S. suspends football coaches from teaching
Sayreville War Memorial High School in Sayreville, N.J., has suspended head football coach George Najjar and four of his assistants from both teaching and coaching, reports NJ Advance Media.
All five of the coaches are tenured. New Jersey law says that school district employees cannot be suspended without pay if they haven't been indicted with criminal charges, and according to police, no adults have been charged in relation to the hazing scandal that has rocked the community and resulted in the football season being canceled.
• HANLON: A town begins to splinter in wake of the Sayreville hazing scandal
On Oct. 10, seven Sayreville football players were taken into custody and charged with numerous crimes, the most serious of which is aggravated sexual assault. All seven players are suspended from school, according to NJ Advance Media.
The coaching suspensions are expected to be voted on by the school board on Tuesday.
A New York Times article published Sunday revealed new details about the alleged locker room hazing, including that older players allegedly "punched and sometimes kicked the younger ones, pinned them and, at the very least, grabbed their buttocks."
School district superintendent Richard Labbe has said that he doesn't believe Najjar knew what was going on in the locker room regarding the alleged hazing. The Times reports that Najjar "left his teams alone after practice, and he seemed disengaged from anything that did not have to do with football."
Sayreville players told the Times that Najjar and his assistants rarely entered the locker room.
- Molly Geary
