Lisbon administrators meet with members of wrestling program over behavior issue

LISBON - Lisbon Community School District administrators met for about 30 minutes with coaches, wrestlers and parents of the Lions prep wrestling team Tuesday at the high school. The closed-door meeting came after the school canceled multiple practices and a double dual last week due to what Superintendent Brad Laures described as a “student-behavior issue” involving some wrestlers.

The school investigated the situation, but student hazing does not appear to be involved. Laures said the meeting addressed various topics, including ethics, character and school expectations of student athletes.

“Lisbon Community School District takes any accusation of bullying or harassment very seriously,” Laures said at the high school shortly after Tuesday's meeting. “We will continue to follow school policy ... to make sure the school environment is safe for all students.”

Laures declined to say if any wrestlers have been suspended from the team, citing policy involving student records, but the team-wide discipline appears to complete. Lisbon's next competition is a dual against Durant on Jan. 5.

“We're not canceling any more meets,” Laures said.

Laures also said he could not comment on how many wrestlers were involved in the investigation or whether it included anyone not on the wrestling team.

Laures said he did not know if the “student-behavior issue” would result in any legal charges. If the legal investigation uncovered new information, Laures said the school could revisit the case.

“We've done our own investigating,” Laures said. “If something new comes out of their findings, we'll look into that.

“We wanted to be as thorough and fair in this process.”

Lisbon Police Chief Rick Scott reportedly looked into the situation. Multiple phone messages left for Scott were not returned by Tuesday evening.

An unidentified father of a Lisbon wrestler told KCRG-TV9 news Tuesday night that his son had been the victim of bullying and a hazing incident in the wrestling room.

KCRG-TV9 cited the father as saying the alleged incident occurred 30 days ago and that a threat was made toward his son last week, which caused the son to tell his dad.