The Ipswich (Mass.) High School officials claimed Friday that some interpretations of a controversial photo that appears to show members of the boys' lacrosse team with cigars are misleading, as they provided more details about why team members were suspended and their state semifinal game forfeited.
As reported by Boston NBC affiliate WBTS, the Ipswich lacrosse team was one win away from a trip to the state championship, when the cigar photos surfaced — though the father of one of the players, said the cigars were fake, made from tea leaves.
Related: Massachusetts HS Lacrosse Players Suspended Over Celebratory Cigar Photo
School administrators determined that the cigars weren't fake, as they'd been told by students and parents during their review of the evidence, Ipswich's superintendent and its high school principal said Friday. They cited a second image they received, which hasn't been widely shared, appearing to show that the cigars had been smoked, as well as information contradicting evidence that the cigars were fake, Asher Klein, Kaitlin McKinley Becker and Mary Markos of WBTS reported.
Parents had said the cigars were really made from chamomile and English breakfast tea leaves, and provided a supermarket store receipt as proof, administrators said. But the date and time of the receipt were smudged out.
Principal Jonathan Mitchell went to the store Thursday and had the receipt re-printed — the ingredients had been purchased about 20 minutes after Mitchell had alerted the families about the investigation into the photos, administrators said.
"We fully understand the disappointment, frustration and emotions that have accompanied this outcome," Mitchell and superintendent Brian Blake said in a statement, adding they have a responsibility to investigate and enforce the rules, which in this case was the MIAA's Chemical Health Policy, which is also part of Ipswich's student-athlete handbook, per the WBTS report.
The administrators also noted that they'd "hoped to avoid having to provide extensive details about the grounds for the suspension of six seniors on the team," but that they had to share the update because "information that apparently has been provided to the media and has been circulated is fundamentally misleading," Klein, Becker and Markos reported.
