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Posted: 7:06 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013
KTVU.com and wires
VALLEJO, Calif. —
New details surfaced Tuesday regarding a hazing scandal at a Vallejo high school that cost the head football coach and physical education teacher his job.
KTVU learned that despite what allegedly happened in the locker room at St. Patrick-St. Vincent High School, police have not opened an official investigation into the incidents.
Tuesday marked fourth day since this story of over-the-top hazing amongst the school's football players broke.
While police said they want to talk to any alleged victims, the head football coach who was fired told KTVU he wants his job back.
Some students were enjoying the levity of pajama day the school Tuesday, but the campus remained gripped by the news that the head football coach was fired and five players were expelled because – according to the school -- the students hazed other players all last season.
"I'm not in favor of it. If it's done too much, it's a big disadvantage to the students," said a student's grandparent who gave her name as Cora.
School principal Mary Ellen Ryan said in a statement that she was told just before Christmas vacation that members of the team had "engaged in abusive and inappropriate behavior directed at lower classmen and members of the junior varsity team."
St. Patrick-St. Vincent is a private Catholic school, and Ryan made the statement through the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento.
Diocese spokesman Kevin Eckery said it was head coach and physical education teacher Chris Cerbone who told Ryan of the alleged abuse.
The hazing happened on campus, but Eckery would not discuss the details of what allegedly occurred.
Ryan said that when school resumed in January, school administrators began investigating the incident, interviewing students, families and staff.
Five members of the coaching staff were placed on leave, Ryan said.
"As a result of the investigation, I made the decision to expel five students who had engaged in the abusive behavior, and personally informed those students and their families," Ryan said.
Four of the coaches who had been placed on leave have since been reinstated, but Cerbone was let go, she said.
The school made the decision to fire Cerbone because he "had ultimate responsibility for supervising the students during the time the inappropriate behavior took place."
On Tuesday afternoon, KTVU talked by phone to Chris Cerbone, the fired coach who started the job last summer. He said he was the first to report the hazing. In return, he says the school made him a scapegoat.
"There's a history of this kind of culture [that led to the hazing]," said Cerbone. "I've uncovered this dirty little secret, and that's why they got rid of me."
Eckery countered that in the judgement of school officials, Cerbone was in a position to do more than report the hazing.
"We expect people to do their job," said Eckery. "We expect people to report incidents of abuse when they take place, but that doesn't clear you of the responsibility of having it happen in the first place."
Eckery said Cerbone told school administrators that the hazing was directed at six underclassmen football players and occurred during unsupervised football practices last season.
He said Cerbone did not witness the incidents, but delayed reporting them in December once he became aware of them.
Eckery also said Cerbone claimed another coach knew about the hazing incidents and had failed to act. However, the school's investigation did not show that any other coaches were aware of what was happening, he said.
Cerbone also described an example of the hazing, which was sexual in nature.
"A boy would be sitting down getting dressed, and another boy would walk by naked and hit him in the head with his genitals, very fast," said Cerbone. ["It was] impossible for any coach to know that was happening."
Some families KTVU spoke with said the coach should not have been fired.
"It's not fine; perhaps given a little punishment or whatever," said Cora. "[They should be] given another chance, not fired."
Vallejo police said they have yet to open an investigation because they have yet to hear from any alleged victims.
Cerbone told KTVU he is looking at filing a wrongful termination lawsuit with the school.
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