Athletes suspended for hazing new players

Eight players on the Calabasas High School varsity baseball team were suspended Monday for taking part in a hazing incident involving new team members.

The suspension lasts five games. The hazing was directed toward eight new members of the team.

Dan Stepenosky, assistant superintendent of personnel at Las Virgenes Unified School District, said the incident did not occur at school or at a school related activity.

"The activity occurred at a private home," he said. District officials found out about the incident when a parent called the school to complain.

While school officials will not release details of what the players may have suffered at the hands of their teammates, Stepenosky said the "initiation" ritual was a "bad choice on the kids' part."

The boys did not subject the new players to anything "physical in nature," but instead required them to perform "silly and inappropriate tasks and other elements," Stepenosky said.

Particularly galling is that the boys chose to follow through with their plans just one day after Baseball Coach Ed Edsall had talked to the team about the negative aspects of hazing.

The Los Angeles and Ventura County Sheriff's Department was contacted because hazing is against the law in California. The homeowners who allowed the hazing incident to occur in their home have been questioned by authorities.

"The focus (of the investigation) is on the private residence and the adults there," Stepenosky said. "I'm very disappointed (about) adults making bad choices."

Child Protective Services were also contacted, but Stepenosky said the agency will not pursue an investigation.

None of the students involved in the incident will be expelled, said one school official who asked to remain anonymous. One student reportedly transferred from Calabasas High to an undisclosed school.

In addition to the five-game suspension, the athletes will be required to conduct 40 hours of community service and develop a public service announcement on "Matt's Law," Stepenosky said.

"Matt's Law" was passed in 2006 in memory of Matt Carrington, a Chico State student who died as a result of being forced to drink gallons of water by members of a fraternity. The law changes hazing incidents that cause serious injury or death from a misdemeanor punishable under California's education code to a felony that can be filed under the state's penal code.

Childish pranks turn into hazing when students are put in a potentially degrading or embarrassing situation in order to gain entry onto a team or into a club.

"All the students are terrific kids, good students, polite, respectful, honorable and very good ball players," Calabasas Principal C.J. Foss said. "They made a poor choice and we want to seize the teachable moment. They now have the opportunity to contribute to educating students at CHS and beyond on the consequences of participating in this kind of incident."

Calabasas High Health Clerk Joey Levin also vouched for the boys' characters. "These are really decent, good kids. There was no force, no manipulation or intimidation—just a bunch of goofy kids."

In February, six employees at Taft High School in Woodland Hills, including the principal, were fired for failing to report a hazing incident.

"We live in a very litigious and frightened climate," Levin said.

Stepenosky said the hazing incident at Calabasas "did not rise nearly to the level of physicality" as it did at Taft. "Thank God," he said.