A dramatic situation involving a Massachusetts high school lacrosse team has come to a head after it was discovered that parents attempted an elaborate ruse to circumvent their children’s suspension.
Administrators initially suspended members of the Ipswich High School lacrosse team June 9, 2026, after receiving an email including “two photographs of seven Ipswich High School senior boys,” six of the whom were lacrosse team members, smoking cigars on a nearby beach after the school’s June 7 graduation, Fox News reported, citing an official statement.
School administrators shortly thereafter began an investigation and interviewed a number of students and their parents. Parents told administrators the cigars contained “chamomile and English breakfast tea” rather than tobacco, providing a receipt from Shaw’s, a local grocery store, in support of their claim, the statement notes. (RELATED: High School Teams’ Fate Handed To Computers Under New Playoff System)
Ipswich High School Principal Jonathan Mitchell subsequently visited Shaw’s to “see if they could reproduce the receipt that had been presented” and verify the claim made by the parents of the team’s players, the statement continues. The store’s manager printed the receipt of chamomile and tea with a date of “June 8th at 1:03 p.m.,” which was 20 minutes after the team’s families were made aware of their children’s potential violation. As a result, the suspension penalty for the accused team members was restored.
Parents of suspended team members then entered a heated argument with Mitchell, police bodycam video published by CBS Boston shows, who said administrators “already made the decision, after all the evidence.”
The remaining members of the lacrosse team arrived at Ipswich High School before three players “refused to play, in solidarity with their suspended teammates,” according to the statement. Only 11 members of the team were left eligible to play in the semifinal, which requires ten players on the field at any given time during the game. Coach Glenn Foster asked the remaining team members to vote on whether to play in the semifinal, and “the resulting vote was overwhelmingly in favor of forfeiting the game.”
Ipswich Public Schools did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Caller.