Glacier High School's athletic staff look to change culture after hazing allegations

Heading into the winter sports season, Glacier High School athletic staff are re-emphasizing the importance of “a strong climate and culture” within its programs after sexual assault and hazing allegations were brought against the school’s wrestling program a year ago.

“An emphasis on training and teaching kids to be solid citizens — young people doing the right things and reporting things that are not OK,” said Activities Director and Assistant Principal Mark Dennehy. “There’s been a constant emphasis on that.”

Dennehy is also the Title IX coordinator at Glacier High School.

“We met with our wrestling team and reviewed expectations and our coaches do it also on a weekly basis. It’s constantly being emphasized,” Dennehy said during a Nov. 1 phone interview.

Dennehy said hazing is “absolutely” discouraged.

“It’s not accepted or tolerated,” he said.

Since the alleged incidents, which occurred during the 2021-22 school year, Dennehy said coaches have re-focused on their supervision efforts on buses and in hotel rooms, which was one of four priorities of an Aug. 8 meeting for all Glacier High School athletic coaches and directors.

One change implemented this year, he said, is that room assignments go unshared until a team reaches its destination. The aim is to prevent student athletes from potentially planning hazing or other misconduct.

“We think it’s a good way to mitigate some challenges,” he said.

This was one of many items coaches listed on a worksheet detailing best practices and suggestions to prevent hazing and bullying. On it, groups were asked to provide tips to ensure proper supervision on buses, in locker rooms and on overnight trips. 

Other participants were asked to list what they do to ensure students aren’t bullied in their respective athletic programs.

Under the tips, participants listed other items such as: students do not get to pick roommates; multiple check-ins at unpredictable times; being the last one out of locker rooms; motel doors open before lights out; being intentional with room groupings; asking kids questions and sitting by them on the bus, for example. 

Under the list of ensuring students are not bullied or mistreated, participants noted student leadership development; proper social media use; no phones during “stints” of trips; focus on team bonding; recognizing/rewarding positive attributes and character; communicating well; have police and administrators explain what bullying, hazing, etc. is; building a caring culture; identifying gateway behaviors such as eye-rolling, staring, turning back and excluding; among other suggestions.

“Best practices originated from our head coaching staff and directors on Jan. 31, 2023, as a tool to assist them in the wide-ranging supervisory duties that each of the leaders has within their program. Some work for situations, some do not,” Dennehy said in a Nov. 14 follow-up email.

He said it is also a matter of going on overnight trips with the mindset of being prepared “that anything can happen at any time.”

“A 1,001 things can happen when you deal with supervision,” Dennehy said.

Most practices and policies remain the same. 

“We want to have overarching documents and principles on how you are going to run your program, our programs,” Dennehy said.

He said at minimum, two adults will supervise student athletes on the bus. 

“Wrestling coaches are right in the middle of the bus,” he said.

Coaches regularly go over expectations when staying in hotels and conduct sporadic check-ins, according to Dennehy. 

“Unfortunately, things happen when you’re dealing with high school kids and we’re going to deal with it when it happens,” he said. “We take care of our kids.”

Dennehy said this is why it is also important to encourage reporting of “unacceptable behaviors,” such as hazing and bullying as soon as possible, which he listed as one of the many bullet points in an Aug. 17 letter to parents and student athletes.

He reiterated that staff undergo annual training and must review and sign a coaches’ handbook.  

“Head coaches are required to attend six to seven meetings per year where they are trained in a variety of things from supervision of students to Double-Goal Coaching with the Positive Coaching Alliance,” he said.

In a Nov. 1 email to the Inter Lake, Glacier High School Head Wrestling Coach Ross Dankers provided a comment on the wrestling program’s student athlete guide, such as culture and expectations, but declined a phone interview request. He wrote that he was unable to comment at this time in a Nov. 6 email.

“As you can see we focus on the program pillars of Attitude-Effort-Character and Team. We run a culture building program where throughout the season coaches acknowledge and honor those in the program that demonstrate these characteristics and at times having peers nominate peers. Those that accumulate the most ‘chips’ in any one of the 4 categories then receive the end of the season award at our banquet. Ex: ‘The Character Award,’” Dankers wrote.

CURRENTLY, THE school district and Glacier High School are the subject of multiple complaints and pending investigations.

The U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights is currently investigating Kalispell Public Schools regarding Title IX sexual violence and retaliation complaints in the school district’s handling of the allegations. The investigations were opened April 11. 

The school district is also the subject of a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Missoula in October by a parent of a high school wrestler seeking punitive damages and a jury trial. According to the Daily Montanan, the parent alleges that Kalispell School District and officials with the wrestling program failed to protect her son from a sexual assault and permitted a culture and “tradition” of hazing, and that employees “were negligent in training staff and supervising team travel.”

During the district’s internal Title IX investigations, subsequent closed disciplinary hearings held by the Board of Trustees resulted in three student suspensions from extracurricular activities. Students were allowed to be eligible to resume extracurriculars upon completion of programming at the Center for Restorative Youth Justice in Kalispell.

Kalispell Police Department also conducted a separate investigation. The report was submitted to Flathead County Attorney Travis Ahner, who handed it to Lake County District Attorney James Lapotka due to a conflict of interest. Lapotka reviewed the case and referred it to Flathead County Youth Court, where proceedings remain confidential.

This is not the first time district and Glacier High School administrators, including Dennehy, have dealt with hazing and sexual assault allegations. In 2011-12, a highly publicized incident on a freshman football bus resulted in multiple suspensions with some students facing misdemeanor assault charges in Flathead Youth Court.

The Inter Lake also reached out to Glacier Principal Brad Holloway about what’s changed within the athletic department since last year’s allegations were brought to light. In a Nov. 6 email, Hollway referred back to the information supplied by Dennehy and Dankers.

“I would refer you to those policies and procedures. With all of our programs, we are constantly evaluating them and looking for ways to continually improve as well as build upon our areas of strength,” Hollway stated.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.