Newburgh school shooting: District won't host home athletic events during safety review
It was the end of a difficult Friday night game and Warwick varsity football players were getting ready to depart Newburgh Free Academy. That’s when everyone heard popping sounds, believing it was some stray fireworks.
But then Newburgh school security began to urgently usher the Wildcats to their school buses that were parked nearby. Nothing was said but Warwick coach Greg Sirico suspected something was afoul when a score of police cars raced up to the school. Within minutes, the Wildcats were on their way home with no further incident.
As it turned out, there was a shooting in a parking lot near the field and three people were injured, though none seriously. As of Thursday, City of Newburgh police were still investigating, with two persons of interest.
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“The staff at the school were outstanding,’’ Sirico said on Wednesday. “They did a terrific job of quickly getting everyone into safe space. They were very quick to get us directed in the right way and we made a very quick exit.’’
The episode has taken on a new life of its own. That evening, the Warwick Valley schools announced its students would not be traveling to Newburgh for any upcoming events. Monroe-Woodbury followed suit on Thursday.
Section 9 executive director Greg Ransom had said on Wednesday this was a matter to settle between the Warwick and Newburgh school superintendents and not the section itself.
“I’m not going to get into the middle of this,’’ he said. “It could eventually come before the council for discussion.’’
But Newburgh Free Academy and Monroe-Woodbury share affiliation in the Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association for almost all sports in Division I, home for the largest schools in the region (Kingston and Middletown are additional divisional partners).
That prompted Newburgh school officials to serve pre-emptive notice that all “home” athletic events would be placed on pause for the next week until safety protocols can be reviewed.
“Both the physical and emotional well-being of all of our athletes, employees, and spectators remains our priority,’’ wrote Newburgh athletic director Howard Harrison in a notice posted to the Newburgh schools website. “This pause is temporary and has been mutually agreed upon among Section IX district and athletic leaders. Additional protocols will be shared prior to resuming traditional home games.’’
The sporting events cover football, soccer, volleyball, tennis, swimming and cross country, involving teams at the varsity, junior varsity and modified levels. Newburgh may have to find neutral sites or switch venues with the visitors in order to play the contests.
“It is the local school district’s responsibility to maintain the security and run the event,’’ Ransom said.
Newburgh's announcement came one day after schools superintendent Jackielyn Manning Campbell stated in a letter to families that future sporting events may be shifted to daylight hours or weekends to ensure safety for future events. She also stated there would be additional security and police details coming up.
Three Thursday athletic events were moved to new sites and one on Friday. Next week, Newburgh was slated to host four events on Tuesday, four on Wednesday and six on Thursday. The first major event beyond the one-week review window is the long-standing Kingston-NFA varsity football showdown on Oct. 14.
Harrison wrote that “robust safety measures” are already in place at home competitions and protocols are “thoroughly reviewed by local law enforcement agencies regularly.’’ He said the one-week pause will allow for an in-depth review of the shooting incident.
“We recognize that this decision may be comforting for some and frustrating for others in light of the incident that took place last week,’’ Harrison wrote. “Our focus is to ensure that our athletes and their families have every opportunity to participate in all regular season competitions to avoid disruption to their season.’’
Harrison tried to quell the public uproar.
“We understand that many of our community may feel like the focus of negativity is unfairly directed towards our athletic program,’’ he wrote. “It is now, more than ever, that we work together, and never against, each other to support and celebrate our students.’’
Barring any fall playoff meetings, no Warwick athletics team is scheduled to visit Newburgh schools for the next 10 weeks: Warwick’s varsity and junior varsity boys basketball and wrestling teams are scheduled on Dec. 14 and the girls varsity and JV teams are slated for Jan. 17.
Twitter: @KenMcMillanTHR
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Newburgh Academy halts home sporting events after shooting
