PEABODY — Bishop Fenwick High School is responding to the decision of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association to ban all Crusader athletic teams from 2023-2024 state tournaments.
In a letter sent to Fenwick families Friday night, Board of Trustees Chair Neil Harrington shared Fenwick’s reasons for waiting to respond and also invited interested parties to attend a community meeting Monday at 6 p.m. in Fenwick’s auditorium. Harrington stated that board members, representatives from the administration and President Thomas will be on hand to “answer questions and to address concerns, as well as to strategize how the Fenwick family will confront – and overcome – this challenge.”
Harrington stated that the Rule 87.6 (Accountability) violation was based on Fenwick’s request for a 5th-year participation waiver for a student.
“Because of three honest and acknowledged errors in the 5th-year waiver application for one player in one sport for one season, the MIAA is punishing all student-athletes of Bishop Fenwick for all sports in all seasons for an entire year,” Harrington said. “The MIAA has rationalized this unprecedented sanction on the mistaken belief that we were intentionally not fully transparent in our supporting documentation for the waiver and therefore violated the MIAA rule on accountability. This accusation is false.”
Harrington further stated the school never attempted to deceive the MIAA or “willfully or intentionally submit false information for any reason – much less to gain some perceived competitive advantage in high school athletics,” adding Fenwick complied with the waiver denial and the student in question “never touched the field.”
According to Harrington, the school retained the services of an attorney after learning of the MIAA decision and the board has been meeting regularly with the executive committee and Nunen to pursue all options.
On July 17, after a communication with the MIAA’s attorney, Fenwick’s attorney advised the school to hold off sharing any details with the Fenwick community.
“Our hope was that we could continue the conversation positively and productively without media attention,” Harrington stated. “We were waiting until the attorneys connected again so that we could provide an update – targeted for Monday, July 24. Unfortunately, the MIAA released the statement today. This is not at all what we expected or anticipated.”
Harrington assured families Fenwick is “working with the MIAA to find a path to a better outcome. This evening, we received word that our dialogue will continue; this is a promising sign.”
Harrington said school leadership appreciates “the profound gravity of this unjustified sanction on our student-athletes. We are evaluating all options to alter and/or reverse this decision.”
Harrington defended Fenwick’s failure to share specifics upon learning of the sanction and that Fenwick was told that its “best hope for an alternative sanction would be to delay sending notification to our community” and that it did so because it was the best interests of Fenwick students, so “in good faith, we abided by that understanding.”
The statement closed with a promise to the Fenwick community that the school “will do everything possible to rectify this situation. We owe this – and more – to our young women and men.”
