An athletics building at Lisbon High School. Haley Jones/Sun Journal

LISBON — The Lisbon High School athletic department is taking steps to prevent hazing, according to Athletic Director Chris Spaulding.

After the school’s football team and its coaches were suspended Oct. 4 over a police investigation into several hazing incidents, the last four of the team’s games were canceled pending a school investigation.

Spaulding told the School Committee on Monday night that the report released by school attorneys from Drummond Woodsum outlined some clear steps to prevent future hazing.

“We’re reinforcing supervision at all times in the locker rooms, we’ve bolted down the trashcans … and we’re (pursuing) hazing prevention courses for all coaches,” Spaulding said, adding that his department is also looking into such courses for student-athletes.

Football coach Chris Kates said the locker room should be open for only 15 minutes in the morning for players to drop off personal belongings and 30 minutes before scheduled practices.

Kates said the doors simply have to be kept closed until just before practice and supervision needs to be improved. When school gets out around 3 p.m. and practice doesn’t start for another hour and a half, it can be difficult for the team’s eight coaches to keep tabs on their 50 student-athletes, he said.

The Drummond Woodsum report includes descriptions of hazing activities in the locker room between the end of school and the start of practice, when the room was not locked and the players were unsupervised.

Drummond Woodsum’s report also said explicitly that school culture is likely one of the culprits for hazing, which, according to some players, has been ongoing for years and exists on other school sports teams. Spaulding said the report also outlined instances in which athletes expressed concern that speaking out could have repercussions with other athletes.

That’s why Spaulding is suggesting hazing prevention courses be taken by all coaches and potentially all student-athletes.

Three anti-hazing organizations have reached out to Spaulding offering assistance in navigating next steps for prevention, he said. School Committee members and Superintendent Richard Green encouraged Spaulding to pursue those lines of communication.