DUNDEE, Mich. – Dundee Community Schools has launched an investigation into allegations of hazing and physical assault involving members of the Dundee High School wrestling team.
In a letter to students, staff, and families, Superintendent Scott Leach said the district opened the investigation last month following an anonymous complaint.
“We do not tolerate bullying, harassment [or] intimidation, and we thoroughly investigate all reports consistent with our school policies and student code of conduct,” Leach stated. “We are also committed to being transparent with our Viking families and keeping our entire school community informed.”
Leach stated that school administrators and the district’s School Resource Officer immediately began investigating -- interviewing team members, coaches, and parents. During this, Leach said, officials were made aware of videotaped evidence depicting additional incidents of hazing, fights, and physical assaults within the team.
The district has since paused all wrestling-related school activities. A Title IX investigation, led by the Thrun Law Firm, has been initiated, and local law enforcement is conducting its own parallel investigation.
One parent, Neil Stephenson, said his son, Connor Kiernan, now 17, participated in the wrestling program from first through ninth grade. He spoke to Local 4 about their experience in what they both called a “toxic program.”
Stephenson said he is “not at all surprised” to hear of new hazing or physical assault allegations.
“If I was surprised by anything, it would be that anybody was talking about it publicly,” Stephenson said.
Rumors about the content of the videos now under investigation and the alleged suicide of another student due to bullying are what Stephenson said prompted him to speak up again.
“If what I’m hearing is true… it’s worse than anything that ever happened to my son,” he said. “It’s criminal.”
According to Stephenson, a clique of parents allegedly had an unspoken agreement with coaches about which children would be varsity wrestlers — decisions he said were being made as early as elementary school.
“Eventually I caught adults in the act of telling kids to hurt my son on purpose,” he said, “and the coaches knew.”
Stephenson described a culture where coaches ignored complaints of misconduct, particularly when the offending student was considered a top performer.
“If a kid was really good, then at that point, that kid gets all kinds of leeway,” he said. “And if you don’t like what that kid is doing to your kid, then you’re the problem.”
The alleged physical abuse and bullying escalated to the point where Stephenson said his son had suicidal ideations. Stephenson recalled a particularly traumatic incident where he said another wrestler hit his son in the face with a chair.
“My son was found unconscious in a hallway with a broken nose that required reconstructive surgery to fix, and the kid who did it was sent back out on the mat like he hadn’t done anything wrong,” he said.
After receiving no response from the school for that incident, Stephenson said he had to involve the police to get anyone to take action.
Stephenson said his daughter once reported a separate incident in which the same boy slapped her brother.
“The coach told my daughter to shut up,” he said, explaining that only after the principal and police intervened after the chair incident, did anything happen.
Reflecting on the program’s culture, Stevenson said, “They want to believe that if you’re good at something, that you’re also a good person. And those two things are not necessarily connected.”
Stephenson said his family has since moved and his son goes to a different school, but he is speaking out in hopes of preventing further harm.
“We’re gone… We’re not part of that anymore,” he said. “But this needs to stop happening… No more children hurt. No more children driven out of the sport.”
He said the trauma has already left a lasting impact on his son, who once aspired to wrestle in college. He also expressed regret about not removing his son from the program sooner,
“As much as I was a pain in their side even back then, I still could have done even more to expose what was going on,” Stephenson said.
“There needs to finally be a point at which we go, this is over. Now. We are not going to allow this anymore.”
Meanwhile, Leach, not commenting any further on the investigation, is urging anyone with relevant information to come forward.
The Title IX investigation is being led by the Thrun Law Firm. Local law enforcement is also conducting its own parallel investigation.
Anonymous tips can be submitted through this form or via the state’s OK2SAY program by calling 855-565-2729, texting 652729 (OK2SAY), emailing ok2say@mi.gov, visiting ok2say.com or using the OK2SAY mobile app.