Homecoming dance to be rescheduled after incidents canceled football game
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OSKALOOSA, Iowa (KCCI) — Oskaloosa’s homecoming dance will be rescheduled after 80 students came forward and admitted to being involved in toilet-papering and more serious behaviors.
Most of the 80 students were not involved in two separate locations where district staff members had homes damaged, were intimidated and had racist comments uttered, says Superintendent Mike Fisher.
“We know the majority of them were likely just engaging in tee-peeing, and we’ve been really up front that the tee-peeing is not the problem,” Fisher says. “We’re really focused on the people that engaged in property damage, intimidation and racist language.”
A third-party investigator has been hired to handle the school’s investigation. The events happened off school property, so any criminal charges would be up to law enforcement. KCCI reached out to Oskaloosa police but had not heard back yet as of Monday afternoon.
The Friday night homecoming football game was canceled and will not be rescheduled. That decision was not made lightly, Fisher said. With hours before the event, school leaders felt it was appropriate to cancel.
A weekend band event and volleyball game were held as more details became available, Fisher said.
The district said students involved had until noon Monday to come forward. Students were notifying district leaders up through this morning.
This is the second year students took homecoming activities too far, Fisher says. But the behavior escalated from 2025 when a district staff member’s yard was spray-painted.
“We thought the very, very serious message of people being removed from teams last year would send a message that we take this seriously, but unfortunately I guess some of our people didn’t learn that lesson, so we had to handle the pattern we were encountering,” Fisher says.
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