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DeKalb County School System Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson announced at a news conference Jan. 18 that the suspension of all marching band activities announced Dec. 14 has been lifted.

“We feel confident that our students are safe and that normal band activities can be resumed,” Atkinson said. The suspension was put in place following hazing allegations at a Florida university that involved former members of a DeKalb County high school marching band.

Robert Champion, a Southwest DeKalb High School graduate attending Florida A&M University (FAMU), died following what is being investigated as a hazing incident in November. His death has been ruled a homicide.

Another FAMU student, Bria Shante Hunter, also a Southwest DeKalb graduate, said in a recent lawsuit that she suffered a beating that caused a cracked thigh bone in a separate hazing incident a few weeks before Champion died.

Atkinson said that although the suspension has been lifted, a system-wide investigation is continuing to be sure there have been no violations of the school system’s anti-bullying and anti-intimidation policies.