Three Tamaqua students have been suspended following the “hazing” incidents that caused Tamaqua to forfeit its District 11 Class 3A football semifinal game against North Schuylkill over the weekend.

Tamaqua School Board Vice President Nicholas Boyle confirmed the action Wednesday morning.

According to Boyle, within the next 10 days from Monday, hearings on the matter will begin.

“Basically, there will be three members of the board present. An accused person can call witnesses, they can have it open to the public, or keep it private - they have the right to those options, that’s their choice,” Boyle, chairman of the committee, explained.

“Then, the committee will deliberate - find them guilty or innocent and then come up with a punishment (if necessary).”

Tamaqua Superintendent Ray Kinder posted a letter on the district website Monday, which said that members of the Tamaqua area administration, school police force and Tamaqua police have been conducting an investigation into “an incident involving members of the school’s football team.”

Boyle confirmed the incident occurred on school property.

“The public has to remain patient and the spurring of rumors and everything else doesn’t help,” Boyle added.

On Tuesday, Tamaqua School Board President Larry Wittig labeled it as a hazing incident, “for lack of a better term,” he said.

“The school district is not about to push anything under the rug, or hide things, or prevent people from knowing. Having said that, these students have rights,” Wittig said at Tuesday night’s workshop committee meeting.

“The perpetrators, the victims, all of them have rights, and they’re also young, and you don’t go out blasting things, particularly prematurely, which I’m suggesting on social media, is way prematurely.

“They (on social media) have people getting fired, they have all kinds of nonsense. I can tell you this, the athletic staff, the football staff, A, knew nothing about it and, B, there’s a counselor of 35 years on the football staff. They spend as much time on life skills and good choices as they do football. This is something that happened way beyond what they knew about.”

According to Wittig, the incident happened around 6:30 p.m. last Thursday.

“In terms of expediency of addressing the alleged issue, by 11 p.m. that night, there was a meeting between police, administration and the parents.”

Wittig added that interviews were conducted on Friday, Saturday and Monday.

“The facts of those investigations, we’re not privy to yet. The police are conducting theirs, we’re conducting ours. All I can tell you, and please, board members please chime in if I say anything that doesn’t represent how you feel - the board, I believe, is committed to pushing this to the end. It’s not plea dealing, it’s not slap on the wrist, oh boys will be boys, or something like that,” Wittig said.

“No, we are committed to taking it to the end, whatever that is in terms of expulsion or anything. What the police do, I have no control over, and they will assess that punishment, if there is any. But I just respectfully ask the bloggers or people watching this, to have a little respect for the people that are involved - the students that are involved, the parents that are involved and the faculty, for that matter.”

Jessica Harper, a 2001 Tamaqua graduate, is a mother of a freshman student at the high school. Initially, when the playoff game was canceled, she thought that it was COVID-19 related.

“I was very shocked, my heart absolutely breaks for the victim and his family,” Harper said. “And my understanding is, there are victims from other years past, as well as current victims, that are actually coming forward now.”

Rumors and speculation quickly swirled through social media.

“It didn’t take long for things to come out,” Harper said during an interview Tuesday afternoon.

“I’m pretty sure I know exactly what happened, and I do know the victim, as well as the names of the people involved. I know one of them is 18, and I would love to know why his name isn’t made public.

“Kids in the district all know who is involved, because they’re all over Snapchat with all of these kids - showing their pictures out there, and what happened out there. It’s all over. Everyone knows who it is.”

On Monday, Tamaqua police said the investigation is ongoing. Further details regarding the incident have not been released at this time.

“This is not a systemic thing with Tamaqua, it’s not something that happens all of the time,” Wittig said during Tuesday night’s meeting. “It’s an incident that will be taken care of under the protocols that we use time and time again.”

No further details regarding the incident were provided at Tuesday night’s meeting.

Tamaqua’s school board meeting is scheduled for next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.