MIDDLETOWN, Pa. — Editor's note: The above video is from Aug. 24.
Seven former Middletown High School football players were expelled after the school district's investigation of a hazing incident earlier this summer.
The expulsions were approved by the Middletown School Board at its meeting Tuesday.
The Board also voted unanimously to affirm the school district administration's decision to cancel the 2022 high school football season due to the hazing incident.
The students who were expelled were not identified by the Board.
Board President John Ponnett called the incident "reprehensible" and said the Board “stands united in the discipline that has been administered" by superintendent Dr. Chelton Hunter and the school district's administration.
“Those behaviors do not, nor will they, define us as a district as we go forward,” Ponnett added.
The school district was first informed of the suspected hazing by members of the football team on August 12, after a video showing an incident was circulated on social media.
The video appeared to show a group of students holding down two of their teammates. The players allegedly used a muscle therapy gun and another piece of athletic equipment to poke the buttock region of the students on the ground.
The school district launched its own investigation and contacted law enforcement.
Blue Raider football coach Scott Acri announced his resignation on August 19 as part of the fallout from the incident.
The school district initially said the football season would go on, until a second video of the incident surfaced, showing that the number of students involved was more widespread than previously known, according to Hunter, who announced the cancellation of the season on August 24.
On August 25, a Harrisburg law firm specializing in sexual abuse cases announced it was representing some of the players allegedly victimized in the incident.