Lisbon High School football field. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald
A Maine Principals’ Association committee on Thursday will review, and likely rule on, Lisbon High School’s appeal to have its varsity football team reinstated without penalty this fall.
Because the team forfeited half of its 2024 season in the wake of hazing allegations, it now has to ask the MPA to waive a rule that requires varsity athletic teams that don’t complete their season to wait two years before competing again.
The rule, Appendix Z in the MPA’s bylaws for interscholastic sports, states that all appeals will be heard by the MPA’s Interscholastic Management Committee “for a waiver in extenuating circumstances.”
Mike Burnham, the MPA’s executive director for interscholastic athletics, said the management committee oversees all MPA rules and regulations used to guide Maine high school sports and routinely hears and rules on a variety of appeals, ranging from program infractions, to student eligibility, to schools seeking a classification change for one of its teams.
“In essence, it’s a board of directors.” Burnham said.
Lisbon is the third school in four years to file an appeal to prevent its varsity football team from suffering a season non-completion penalty. Brunswick High football was reinstated for the 2022 season after shelving its 2021 season for a hazing investigation.
During the 2023 season, Falmouth appealed after it forfeited a regular-season game against Portland because several injuries had reduced an already small roster. In that case, the management committee made an in-season decision to waive the two-year varsity ban, but did penalize Falmouth by ruling it ineligible for the 2023 playoffs.
After the season ended, longtime Falmouth coach John Fitzsimmons was forced to resign after it became clear he had lost the support of players and parents. Falmouth won the Class B championship in 2024.
STATING ITS CASE
Lisbon Schools Superintendent Richard Green said he and Lisbon Athletic Director Chris Spaulding will attend Thursday’s meeting to present their case.
“Mr. Spaulding and I are prepared to provide a timeline and summary of our efforts,” Green said in an interview this week.
Since the Lisbon hazing allegations surfaced, Lisbon schools hired the Portland law firm Drummond Woodsum to conduct an independent investigation that found “a culture of hazing” within the program.
The law firm’s weekslong investigation found players whipped one another with leather belts and at least one incident of a freshman student being hit headfirst into a trash can.
While the appeal process is somewhat akin to a judicial hearing that is open to the public, Green said they have not been informed by the MPA of any particular documents or specific requirements the board needs to make a decision.
The Interscholastic Management Committee has nine members, each a school administrator from throughout the state. Jeremie Sirois, the current chair, is the principal at Line Elementary School in Newfield. Sirois declined an interview request for this story.
Burnham said in past non-completion appeals, committee members asked school officials what they’ve done to address any issues and how the school is prepared to move forward in a positive manner. Burnham said there have been times when schools knew one of their programs was not ready for an immediate return to varsity status and made their appeal after a single non-varsity season.
Speaking about the appeal process generally — and not the Lisbon case specifically — Burnham said that “in a lot of appeals, the school will have done their own work and taken a number of steps to address whatever the issue may be, and the decision to bring an appeal forward is almost always after the work has been done.”
At Lisbon, subsequent actions included instituting a policy that locker rooms would be supervised at all times, a plan to implement department-wide hazing prevention courses for coaches and students, and the announcement in January that Chris Kates’ contract as the football team’s head coach would not be renewed.
The non-completion rule is one of the MPA’s most punitive regulations. Burnham said he “absolutely” believes such a rule is still needed to make sure teams struggling with poor results, and possibly poor attitudes, don’t just quit playing at the end of a season.
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