Local News

Smithfield football families stand by their kids amid antisemitism claims

Parents argue that a recent presentation by Jewish organizations overstepped privacy boundaries.

A message projected on the side of Smithfield High School before a School Committee meeting about a report of antisemitic hazing on the football team. Edward Fitzpatrick/The Boston Globe

By Beth Treffeisen

November 20, 2025

2 minutes to read

Parents of Smithfield High School football players accused of antisemitic hazing filed a complaint with the state Education Department, denying the allegations and saying a school presentation by local Jewish groups violated their children’s privacy, putting the students at risk.

Gregory Piccirilli, an attorney representing the parents of the five 17-year-old seniors, filed the complaint on Nov. 7.

The complaint outlines details of the Sept. 29 incident in the high school football locker room, from the perspective of their children.

“Multiple members of the football team participated in a brief, approximately 90-second prank against a freshman student,” the complaint reads.

It continued, “While the freshman was using a urinal in a communal bathroom, with his back to the door, students closed the door, moved a bench in front of it, threw ice into the bathroom, and sprayed a few bursts of disinfectant into the open area above the door.”

The complaint said that when the team captains met with the principal, they made it clear that this was a regular occurrence.

After further investigation involving interviewing more than 20 team members, the complaint said, it became clear that the freshman was not a specific target, but that anyone who used that bathroom experienced the same prank.

The complaint said team members did not report any anti-Semitic remarks, and most did not know the freshman’s religion at the time.

The complaint directly opposes a different one filed by a parent on Oct. 30, from a parent who claimed several other students assaulted and harassed the student based on his Jewish ancestry, ethnicity, and religion in the locker room.

It also directly contradicts what two local Jewish advocacy groups reported, which included saying the players yelled antisemitic epithets at the student during the prank.

The complaint said that, on Oct. 21, school administrators asked the entire football team to attend a one-hour presentation by the Sandra Bornstein Holocaust Education Center. At the end of the presentation, the principal dismissed the team but asked “a few to stay,” adding that they “knew exactly who they were.”

The complaint says that the principal singled out the five boys to the center’s members by doing so.

The following day, parents demanded that the school end the players’ suspension, voicing their dismay that their sons had been singled out by an outside group, especially given the accusations.

The Jewish Alliance for Greater Rhode Island and the Sandra Bornstein Holocaust Education Center released a joint statement on Oct. 23, after the players were allowed to return to the team following suspensions stemming from the incident.

As a result of the statements and additional comments by members of the two Jewish organizations, the parents say they have received threatening statements on social media, “including one person who offered a $5,000 bounty for addresses of seniors, mention of finding names, and where they are applying to college and calling admissions.”