Smithfield School Committee asks outside lawyers to review response to football locker-room incident

The Smithfield School Committee on Nov. 3 voted to ask outside counsel to review the school district's administrative response to an incident involving students in the high school's boys football locker room, the committee chair said.

The action came during a special meeting called after an appeal of disciplinary decisions and amid a separate review by the Rhode Island attorney general. A committee member moved "to have our attorneys at Brennan, Gunio, and Kresy LLP review the administrative response and steps taken to address the recent football student matters and report back to the committee," and the committee voted in favor. The motion was made and seconded; the transcript does not record named movers or a roll-call vote.

The chair told attendees the committee had reviewed recordings and documents from Sept. 29 to the present and had "verified" that an incident occurred in the boys' locker room involving students on the football team. The chair said the principal and athletic director had conducted much of the initial investigation, with assistance from guidance counselors and a social worker, and that the attorney general had directed limited public disclosure to avoid compromising its review.

"What happened to the young adult in that room should not have happened," the chair said, adding the committee intended to recommend stepped-up training for teams on hazing, bullying and inclusion and to "partner most likely with an outside firm" on education for the high school.

Mr. Leblanc, a school committee member, urged colleagues to operate "with a commitment to honesty and transparency" and asked the public to hold the committee to high standards, saying he would not engage in "political theater."

During the public-comment portion, the superintendent addressed the gathering and said: "There is no place for anti-semitism, for hatred, for discrimination in our schools, in our sports, in any of our programming." The superintendent said some facts could not be shared because of privacy constraints and welcomed the committee's review of the matter to ensure actions were appropriate and aligned with policy and student safety.

The committee closed the public forum after an applause and then adjourned. The committee did not record a detailed vote tally in the transcript; no additional procedural directives or timelines for the outside counsel's report were provided on the record.