The Philadelphia Inquirer has provided additional details regarding the cancellation of Cheltenham High School’s varsity and junior varsity football programs in May following an external hazing investigation.

According to their coverage, an anonymous parent said that her then-15-year-old son told her that his teammates had used a broomstick during an assault inside the locker room after a practice in August 2025.

Lawyer Alan Yatvin said that video footage shows a student being dragged by his shirt on the floor of the locker room by “seven or eight students” while others watched. The student was assaulted again in September, during which he was “thrown on the floor and punched and kicked in the head and testicles”, The Inquirer wrote. The mother took her son to an urgent care center four days after the incident.

The son also told his mother that the coaching staff knew of the incident and “had called him that night and told him not to tell his parents.” The boy’s mother said her son was taunted by peers after the assault and switched to virtual school. She is considering filing a lawsuit.

Cheltenham School District officials have “provided few specifics” regarding the locker room incident, The Inquirer said. No charges have been filed yet, though a Title IX investigation is ongoing, and a spokesperson for the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office said it is also investigating.

Suspected hazing was first made public in October 2025 when the district received anonymous allegations described as “deeply concerning and, if substantiated, wholly inconsistent with our values as a district.” Cheltenham school officials immediately reported the information to ChildLine services and the Cheltenham Township Police Department “and followed all legally mandated procedures to investigate the alleged incident, which we believed to be isolated.”

Three days later, Dr. Scriven announced that the duration of the 2025 Cheltenham High School football season was cancelled.

The external investigation confirmed that reported student-on-student assault “did, in fact, take place in the football locker room on September 3, 2025, and that approximately 19 students who witnessed the assault made no attempt to stop the event, and several participated freely in it. Several students also filmed the assault,” Dr. Scriven wrote.

Last month, several Panthers shared their concerns and frustrations with The Inquirer. You can read Glenside Local’s summary of the story here.

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