Outrage over a hazing incident allegedly involving the Sharyland Pioneer swim team prompted Superintendent Maria Vidaurri to issue a statement Friday evening condemning speculation that’s run rampant on social media since news broke this week.
Amid claims of a “cover-up,” a photo of one Pioneer High School student was publicly posted to Facebook on Friday, generating thousands of reactions with many alleging the individual to be responsible for the incident, and calling for the person’s arrest as well as for the termination of the student’s father, an administrator.
“Some of the information that has been published on social media has been inaccurate, based on false information, or has been reckless with regard to the privacy and well-being of individual(s),” Vidaurri said in the statement. “While the District would like to answer questions posed by members of the community and address some of the inaccuracies that have been published, the District must make it a priority to protect the privacy of our parents and students, not only pursuant to State and Federal Law, but out of respect and common decency toward those individuals. For those reasons, the District is unable to disclose much detail regarding the incident.”
On Tuesday, students, parents and sources close to the matter expressed concerns to The Monitor over a fall 2019 incident in which allegations were made regarding an underclassman from Pioneer being assaulted as part of a hazing ritual.
Asked to confirm, the Sharyland school district issued a statement acknowledging the incident and confirming that it had contacted local authorities.
When reached, Mission police confirmed that it assisted a Corpus Christi police investigation into the hazing incident as an assisting agency, but didn’t reveal more.
At a workshop Wednesday, students and concerned residents confronted members of the school board to express further concern, asking for adequate punishment for those responsible.
The Monitor has since reached out to administration with regard to the lack of details shared thus far. On Friday, calls made to Vidaurri seeking comment went unreturned.
She did, however, confirm in her statement Friday that Child Protective Services was among the agencies contacted by the district upon learning of the incident.
“What I can tell you is that immediately upon learning of the incident, District administration notified the Mission P.D., Corpus Christi P.D. and Child Protective Services of the matter,” Vidaurri’s Friday statement read. “The District then commenced an immediate and thorough investigation into the incident, including notification to the parents of those involved.”
What’s more, Vidaurri said the district has “meted out punishment to all implicated in accordance with the student code of conduct, school district policy, and Texas Law, pending any additional results of the law enforcement investigation.”
According to the superintendent, the district is currently cooperating with law enforcement agencies’ investigation into the incident.
Previous coverage
https://www.themonitor.com/2020/01/15/sharyland-pioneer-students-confront-school-board-hazing-incident/
https://www.themonitor.com/2020/01/14/officials-tight-lipped-sharyland-pioneer-hazing-incident/
