August 07, 2026
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Cheltenham School District Superintendent Brian Scriven says he is resigning in the wake of criminal charges being filed against 10 Cheltenham High School football coaches and players who allegedly were involved in a hazing scandal.
Cheltenham School District Superintendent Brian Scriven has resigned one week after charges were filed against 10 football coaches and players who allegedly were involved in the hazing scandal that resulted in the cancelation of Cheltenham High School's 2025 and 2026 football seasons.
In a letter to the Cheltenham community, Scriven called his work at the district the greatest privilege of his life, but said he felt it was best for him to step down.
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In May, a petition with 200 signatures was sent to the school board asking for Scriven to be placed on leave and to conduct a review of his leadership. At the time, the school board said it stood behind Scriven.
"This year has tested our community in ways none of us anticipated," Scriven wrote Thursday in his letter. "I have thought long and hard about what is best, not for me, but for the students, staff, and families who depend on strong, trusted leadership. I have come to believe that the district is best served by a fresh start under new leadership, and that stepping aside now is the right and necessary step to allow Cheltenham to move forward."
The school board accepted Scriven's resignation and said that pending formal approval at its next meeting, Joshua Sweigard, has been named acting superintendent. Sweigard is the district's director of business services.
"Mr. Sweigard is a skilled and experienced member of the district's central administration, and we are confident that he is the best choice to lead the district until the search for an interim superintendent is completed," the board said in a statement.
On July 29, the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office filed charges against four coaches and six players following a grand jury investigation into two incidents in the fall of 2025.
During the first incident, on Aug. 15, a 15-year-old sophomore was restrained by multiple teammates as a broomstick was used to poke at his legs and butt, prosecutors said. The student again was allegedly assaulted with a broomstick on Sept. 3.
After the second incident, prosecutors said, coaches instructed the player not to tell his mother about the assault, and they did not immediately report the incident to the school. The boy's mother learned of the assault when she took the student to urgent care several days later, and the boy was diagnosed with a contusion to his penis. The district canceled the football season on Oct. 19.
The 2026 season was canceled in late May as the investigation into the incidents continued.
Investigators initially believed the hazing was limited to the Sept. 3 incident, but they later learned of the Aug. 15 incident. In that case, students allegedly had recorded and deleted video, but detectives were able to recover the recordings.
"The assaults on this victim were not the typical goofing around by teammates or horseplay as some of the coaches in this case called it, they were crimes," District Attorney Kevin Steele said last week. "Numerous witnesses, many reluctant to share what they saw and knew, testified before the grand jury about what occurred in the Cheltenham High School locker room on these two occasions and testified about actions taken by some of the football coaches after the assaults."
The charges against the 10 coaches and players range from assault and unlawful restraint to perjury and tampering with evidence.
