Rhode Island High School Reinstates Suspended Football Players

Members of Smithfield team were suspended for hazing allegations

Smithfield High School baseball fans / Kris Craig/The Providence Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

A Rhode Island High School is facing questions over the decision to reinstate several players who were suspended for an alleged hazing incident earlier this year.

Smithfield High School previously suspended a group of students for what was reportedly the rest of the season. However, NBC 10 has learned those same students are back on the football team.

The victim, a freshman, was allegedly hazed by the players by being locked in a batttttttthroom and sprayed with Lysol while being yelled at. The freshman football player is Jewish.

“To find out that the kids were reinstated and to find out in the way that we did, it just says to us that antisemitism is not taken seriously by Smithfield schools,” Adam Greenman, President of The Jewish Alliance of Rhode Island, said. “From our understanding, five members of the football team locked the Jewish freshman student in the bathroom, sprayed Lysol into the bathroom and yelled antisemitic epithets at the student.”

Smithfield School Official: Disciplinary Process Concluded

Smithfield Superintendent Dawn Bartz provided a statement that read, “The disciplinary process has concluded. And we will not be discussing details involving students.”

The Sentinels are 5-2 on the year, including a 16-6 victory over Exeter West-Greenwich Prout this past Friday night. Smithfield is scheduled to take on Narragansett on the road this coming Friday before cplaying North Providence on November 27.

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