Dear Families, Faculty, and Staff,
I am writing today with an important update regarding the status of our football program. As you know, we made the difficult but necessary decision to suspend football practices and games due to serious allegations of misconduct within the program and subsequent investigations - a criminal investigation by the Hanover County Sheriff’s Office and an administrative investigation by the school division. As I have shared repeatedly,
the safety of our students has always been and will always be our top priority and drives our decision-making.
I can now share with you that this important and time-consuming work has concluded. We are confident that a thorough accounting of the misconduct concerns within the program has taken place. We would like to extend our gratitude to our partners at the Hanover County Sheriff’s Office. As a result,
we are resuming football activities, effective immediately.
While I am unable to share specific details about the investigation and its findings due to confidentiality laws involving juveniles, as well as protections afforded to employee personnel records, please know that those found to be in violation of the Code of Student Conduct and/or School Board policy are being held fully accountable.
Moving forward, our first priority is to begin to establish a positive, supportive culture for the entire football program. We will be working with Coach Reynolds, his coaching staff, and players to establish team norms and will be holding various team building activities and trainings in an effort to build that strong culture.
Thank you for your understanding during this time and for your continued support of our school and football program. I look forward to seeing our students again on Tuesday.
Sincerely,
Charles E. Stevens
Principal
Mechanicsville High School
#bettertogether