Chinook football season cancelled following sex assault charges

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on October 25, 2023.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

Chinook High School’s football season is over. The Lethbridge School Division late Monday afternoon announced the decision.
“A multitude of factors were considered as we explored a return to game play.
We would like to emphasize that the players and coaches have done everything that was asked of them since the incident happened and have been highly engaged in learning from this experience. School administration has worked diligently in response to the incident as well and was supportive of a return to play if possible. Lethbridge School Division and Chinook High School have worked closely together throughout this process,” said LSD in a statement.
The final decision was made in consultation with an expert in trauma response, Kevin Cameron, who is the executive director for the Center for Trauma Informed Practices.
“Through consultation with Kevin, we have come to understand that we need more time to evaluate and respond to the impact this incident is having on our school community. Given this, it was our view that we are not ready to return to play,” said LSD.
The school board says some Chinook football players have been targeted for harassment and is asking people not to direct their feelings toward them or other members of LSD the school communities.
“We have all been deeply impacted by the distressing nature of the recent incident that occurred at Chinook and the severity of the criminal charges. This has been an incredibly difficult time for students, staff, the school community at Chinook and the Division as a whole. 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. This is about more than the Chinook football team,” said the division.
“We will come together as a division and examine factors that have the potential to compromise the safety of not only our student-athletes, but students across the division,” the statement said.

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