The investigation into alleged prescription drug distribution within the Harrisonburg High School football team continued Friday.

Harrisonburg School Superintendent Dr. Donald Ford spoke out about the search warrant that was conducted at the high school and the investigation. Despite the police department's investigation of the incident, the school board is conducting its own, independent investigation to gather all of the facts.

Ford says, "I was deeply disappointed to hear allegations this past Wednesday that some of our football players violated not only school policies but also the trust of our coaches, staff and parents by using pain killers prior to ball games. The allegations raise serious concerns for our school division and for our community regarding student access to and use of illegal drugs and, unfortunately, this incident is one more example of the larger community concern we all have for our teenagers and the use of illegal drugs."

He continues, "Anything that has to do with legal issues, in terms of violations of the law, really fall under the purview of the police department. What we're trying to do is make sure that our students are treated fairly, but look carefully at whether there were violations of student code of conduct."

If the investigation reveals that students broke the drug policy, then the school would follow typical protocol, which involves a ten-day suspension for a first time offense of use or possession of drugs and an additional 30-day exclusion from all school activities.

Ford could not say whether or not students have been suspended from school or cut from any teams. However, he says he wants to make decisions based on all of the facts, so the school board will be relying on the information that comes from both the independent and police investigations.