The Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop football team is forfeiting its next two games due to a “school policy violation” that stemmed from students involved in hazing.

The forfeits affect games scheduled for Friday against Norwood Young America and Oct. 14 against Waterville-Elysian-Morristown. They result from the GFW School District saying that while evidence does not support penalizing individual students, it wants to send a message that hazing by students will not be tolerated.

District officials provided a statement to parents who attended a meeting Wednesday evening. It said the district was made aware of an incident on Sept. 29 and began an investigation the next day that found that students had violated the district’s hazing policy. The statement did not say how many of the students were football players.

“During the investigation, this “tradition” or horseplay, as the students have referred to it, did not reveal any physical harm,’’ said the statement read by school principal Bernie Sauter. “The coaching staff has been interviewed and it was determined that they had no prior knowledge before’’ the district learned of the matter on Sept. 29.

The findings were shared with the Minnesota State High School League, which indicated that there was not enough information to warrant individual penalties. But Sauter told parents that the school wanted to send a “strong message’’ about a “school policy violation.’’

“This policy clearly states that students with direct involvement and those with knowledge of an action are responsible and penalties are to be imposed for both,’’ Sauter said in the statement.

“After consultation with MSHSL, we decided to institute a 2 game penalty for all involved,’’ Sauter said. “Since we would not have enough players left to field a team after imposing this penalty, we will be forfeiting the next two football games.’’

The team, with an 0-5 record, has 35 to 40 players, according to published rosters online.

Martin added at the meeting, "We need to send a clear and strong message to everyone that GFW does not tolerate behavior of any kind that can be construed as hazing.  Please use this incident as an opportunity to speak to your child about the choices we all make everyday and how these choices can positively or negatively impact them or those around them.  Unfortunately, this is a hard lesson that we all wish we did not have to learn, but I know we can move forward and be stronger as a district.''

Here is the bulk of the statement prepared by Sauter and Martin:

“On the evening of Thursday, September 29th, the school district was made aware of actions that fell under the GFW Hazing Policy. A full investigation was started on Friday, September 30th and was concluded at 8 pm on Monday, October 3rd. As a result of that investigation it was determined that we had students who had violated the school district hazing policy.

The investigation results were shared with the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) and under their guidance it was determined that we did not have enough information to serve individual penalties, but we did have a school policy violation. During the investigation, this “tradition” or horseplay, as the students have referred to it, did not reveal any physical harm. The coaching staff has been interviewed and it was determined that they had no prior knowledge before September 29th.

So, even though there will be no individual penalties under MSHSL, we feel that we need to send a strong message to the students at GFW that we will not tolerate actions and behaviors that fall within our Hazing Policy. This policy clearly states that students with direct involvement and those with knowledge of an action are responsible and penalties are to be imposed for both.

After consultation with MSHSL, we decided to institute a 2 game penalty for all involved. Since we would not have enough players left to field a team after imposing this penalty, we will be forfeiting the next two football games. Again, we want to emphasis that no individual students are being penalized under MSHSL, this is a school policy violation penalty. We have informed the local authorities of our investigation. They will have access to what we are legally required to give them. They will be determining if they need to take any further action. Should they decide to investigate this issue on their own and come up with evidence that would support additional penalties by the MSHSL those penalties will be enforced by the school.

We hope you will join us in our effort to educate our students on our expectations for conduct at school, on the field, in interactions with their teammates, and throughout their life. Many times the best lessons are the hardest ones. We feel this is an issue that we need to take a strong stance on in order to protect our students and to show them that we expect the utmost in all areas, but most definitely in the area of respect and care for each other.

Due to federal data privacy laws we will not be going into any specifics. We cannot discuss any information that could result in a release of information about an individual student. We can discuss the penalty we imposed and why we imposed it.

Again, we decided on a two week game suspension for any student who was involved either directly or through knowledge of the incident. Since we would not have enough students to play the next two games, we are forfeiting them. Practices will continue and as it stands now all players will be eligible to play on October 19, against Lester Prairie.”