The football season has been cancelled at a Lethbridge high school where a 16-year-old boy was allegedly assaulted in a locker room.
Lethbridge police said that on Oct. 3, a 16-year-old boy was allegedly assaulted at the Chinook High School after regular school hours. Police said the incident involving members of the schools football program.
On Monday, the Lethbridge School Division announced the football season is now over at Chinook.
“A multitude of factors were considered as we explored a return to game play,” a statement on their website said.
The school division said the players and coaches have done everything asked of them since the incident happened and have been “highly engaged in learning from this experience.”
But they said in the aftermath of this incident, some members of the football team have been targeted for harassment.
“We understand that serious and traumatic events such as this trigger feelings of anger and frustration. We ask that all stakeholders refrain from directing these feelings toward members of the football team and members of our school communities,” the school division said. “Harassment of any kind is not acceptable.”
The statement goes on to say we have all been deeply impacted by the distressing nature of the recent incident and the severity of the criminal charges.
Two of the suspects are 17 years old, and two are 16 years old. They have been charged with sexual assault with a weapon, assault with a weapon, an unlawful confinement.
“Our students and student-athletes should expect to be safe in our schools. It is clear we still have work to do to fully meet that expectation,” the school division wrote.