Allegations ‘unsupported’
Coaches accused of abuse return to jobs
Three Andover High School hockey coaches are back on the job following an investigation into allegations they denied players food and water as punishment for poor performance.
“I have, as of this afternoon, been notified by the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families that the agency has found that all of the allegations were unsupported,” school Principal Philip Conrad said yesterday in a statement. “In light of this notification, and with the results of our internal investigation in hand, I am reinstating the three varsity hockey coaches immediately.”
School officials put head coach Chris Kuchar and two unidentified assistant coaches on paid administrative leave last month after the Department of Children and Families notified Conrad of “an active investigation” it was conducting into possible neglect of their players.
At the time, the school department released a statement saying that during a practice after the team lost a game, students were allegedly forced to do a punitive conditioning session where they were not allowed a water break and were denied food on their way back to Andover as punishment for losing an away game.
The district hired an outside firm to conduct its own investigation. And on Tuesday, Conrad said in a letter to the community that the firm had found the allegations were “not sustained,” but that DCF would have to reach the same conclusion before he could reinstate the coaches.
DCF officials yesterday said the report that triggered their investigation “involved an unusually large number of children,” and although details and results of department investigations are, by law, confidential, regulations allow the agency to inform school officials of the results of an investigation into allegations of abuse or neglect in their school.
In a statement yesterday, Kuchar said: “The Andover High School hockey program, its coaches and all support personnel always place the safety and wellbeing of the players above all other considerations and always will.”