LOCKPORT, N.Y. — The Starpoint Central School District released a statement Monday saying that after the conclusion of a Title IX investigation, the district stood by its decision to cancel the 2022-2023 wrestling season.
The Title IX investigation was initiated after allegations of sexual harassment during practices on school grounds and at a private practice facility. Multiple instances of so-called 'dog-piling' were reported to the district.
"Together we stand by our decision to cancel the second half of the wrestling season, our decision regarding coaching appointments for the upcoming season, and our obligation to initiate a Title IX investigation to ensure a fair and impartial process to investigate the allegations," Superintendent Dr. Sean Croft and school board president Jeffrey Duncan said in the statement.
Additionally, the district said it has no intention of releasing the Title IX report to the public.
"I'm just very concerned about the level of integrity at this point," said one parent of a Starpoint wrestler.
The parent asked to remain anonymous because they still have a child on the wrestling team and fear retribution by district officials.
The parent said that several students transferred to private schools this year to continue wrestling because there is no guarantee that there will be a Starpoint team for the 2023-2024 season. At a recent school board meeting the district relieved the current coaching staff of their duty to the team.
In addition to the Title IX investigation, the Niagara County Sheriff's Office investigated the allegation. The investigation concluded with two students receiving appearance tickets, but not charged with sex-related crimes.
The district said in their statement Monday that they plan to create a task force made up of school officials and residents. The task force will evaluate the district's code of conduct.
Deanna Caldwell sent 2 On Your Side a statement on behalf of her family and 15 other families of Starpoint wrestlers:
"The Starpoint wrestlers and their families have once again been let down by the Starpoint Administration and Board of Education. Their most recent letter on the Title IX determination is yet another vague blanket statement about “members” of the wrestling team which, to those not truly familiar with the facts of this incident, recklessly and unjustly taints the reputation of the entire wrestling team, even those who were and are objectively innocent of any wrongdoing. What they do not relate to the public is that this incident, reported in February 2023, was one team member accusing two other team members of misconduct. These continued ambiguous statements from the district have allowed the social media-fueled rumor mills to spin out of control and, in this vacuum of information, caused all of Western New York to incorrectly assume the entire Starpoint wrestling program (thirty-plus student-athletes) were somehow guilty of “sexual harassment”. Starpoint claims in their statement, to be “protecting the members of this school community” they have, in fact, utterly failed to protect the reputation, health, and well-being of these student-athletes.
These continued vague statements and refusal to release the reports has led to social-media-fed rumors that are much worse than anything that was ever even claimed by the alleged victim. The fallout from the administration's decisions have been devastating for the wrestling team members. Innocent young athletes have endured relentless harassment in school, in the community, and on social media, leaving incredible emotional scars that have manifested as fear, anxiety, and depression in their daily lives. The result of this has been the need for some team members to change schools simply to escape the stigma unfairly placed upon them and to resume some semblance of a regular life. As a result of the district’s deafening silence, these young men’s reputations have been irreparably tarnished, affecting not just their social lives but also their academic and athletic futures. This ridicule has continued to spread over the past several months and now is not just aimed at Starpoint wrestlers but has been heaped upon other, uninvolved Starpoint athletes as well. Just this last week at a football game, opposing team fans and athletes were yelling such insults as rapists, molesters, and other derogatory comments aimed at the Starpoint athletes and students.
While the district claims to be making their decisions to protect the one student who is making the accusations, their calculated decision to remain silent as to the innocence of the vast majority of others is irreparably harming dozens of other innocent Starpoint students and their emotional and educational well-being due to their poor choices and lack of communication to the community. At a minimum, the district could have let the community know that not all members of the wrestling program are guilty or even accused of any wrongdoing. While this could have at least helped reduce the abuse being suffered by dozens of their students, to date, they have flatly refused to do so. To add insult to injury, they have instead fired the entire coaching staff, even coaches not present during the timeframe of the claims of harassment. With no current coaches and no reports of current applicants, there is no way of knowing if there will be a 2023-24 wrestling season.
It is also important to note that, the students who were named in the accusations and received mere violations from law enforcement in this matter graduated in June. The Niagara County sheriff made a statement that a thorough investigation was conducted and ultimately no evidence of sexual harassment was found. Despite this, Starpoint’s claims their investigation has come to a different conclusion, which is in contrast to that of the Niagara County Sherriff. Yet, despite their conclusions, Starpoint permitted the two accused students to go to prom, participate in the senior activities, and walk the stage at graduation. All of this was done in complete silence and with no communication to the community or wrestling families.
Ultimately, the communication released by Starpoint on September 18th is yet another disgraceful example of how they continue to recklessly allow dozens of innocent Starpoint students to suffer due to their unjustifiable silence on these allegations. We feel the community should not continue to stand idly by while children have been made victims due to the decisions made by those who should be their advocates and protectors."