School changes its athletic policy
Published 2:07 pm Friday, August 3, 2012
Student athletes who are caught at drinking parties or socializing with students under the influence will no longer be removed from their sports team for a first offense. The school board has made changes to the drinking and drug section of the athletic handbook, after prompting from Orcas parents.
“I respect that the school board heard what was said and were willing to make a significant change,” said parent Amber Paulsen, who spoke at the board meeting on July 26. “It was a change that was not made lightly.”
Orcas School District has a set of athletic requirements that must be signed before the season begins. In addition to stipulations about maintaining a certain GPA and sportsmanlike conduct, kids agree not to use, sell or provide alcohol, tobacco or illegal drugs. In the past, they have also pledged not to be in the presence of unlawful use of alcohol or drugs, under penalty of being disqualified from athletic play. Now, kids who are caught at parties or socializing with students under the influence will not be removed from their sports team.
Board member Chris Sutton says it was a tough call for the board to make.
“There are multiple sides to those words, ‘in the presence of.’ What if someone is smoking pot at a concert? What if someone is being driven to school and the driver lights up a joint?” Sutton said. “We’ve been doing it this way for a while and we thought, ‘let’s try it this other way.’ I really don’t think this is going to make or break the policy. And I don’t think it’s going to change kids’ behavior. I think there are broader conversations that need to happen in the community.”
It’s a change that went against the recommendation of some members of the committee charged with streamlining the handbook.
“I am not in agreement, but the board gets to decide those things,” said high school superintendent Barbara Kline. “Most schools have policies that state students on sports teams cannot be at parties with the presence of drugs and alcohol. You want to give kids that protection, so they can turn to their friends and say ‘we shouldn’t be here.’”
Every spring, the handbook is reevaluated by a committee made up of school staff, community members and counselors. This year, the group recommended that the punishment for a “first offense” in the alcohol/drug section be diminished. That section was looked at closely after a group of parents voiced concern over the fairness of the rules. Last year, nearly a dozen Orcas Island high school students were suspended from the football, soccer and volleyball teams for underage drinking at a party during the fall sports season. The athletes were eligible to play winter sports.
Now there is a “redemption clause” for first time offenders. Instead of suspension, they will miss one game and have to undergo drug and alcohol evaluation and 90 days of probation, which includes possible urine analysis. A second offense means losing sports privileges for one year. If a third offense occurs, the student cannot play for the remainder of his/her time in school.
“I think we have created a better way to deal with a first offender,” Kline said. “We keep them attached to the team but they are put on probation and have to go through certain things.”
Kline says the committee was divided down the middle when it came to whether or not kids should be punished for attending parties with underage drinking and drug use.
Ultimately, Kline says, the committee chose to leave the “in the presence of” clause in the handbook. When it came time to approve the 2012-13 handbook last week, the school board heard from parents who thought kids shouldn’t be punished for hanging out with friends who are drinking.
Some parental perspective
One of those parents was Paulsen, who was part of a group of coaches, teachers, students and law enforcement members who started meeting this past winter about creating an athletic policy that “reflects the standards and values” of the community. She said it is unrealistic to think kids are not drinking on Orcas and that students can help their friends avoid the dangers of drunk driving, drug and alcohol abuse, date rape and poor decision making.
“I strongly believe every drunk teenager needs a sober friend,” Paulsen told the board. “As I parent I would be ashamed of my child if she left a friend in a dangerous situation to save her position on a team.”
She also addressed the wording in the handbook that says students must leave a place with alcohol or drugs in a reasonable amount of time. She said this is unrealistic because kids may not even know drugs or alcohol is present and the definition of “reasonable” is subjective.
“We, as parents, need an opportunity to allow children to make good choices,” Paulsen said. “ Our school needs to allow parents to parent. The policy as it exists is not working.”
But counselor Mari Gardner, who was on the school’s handbook committee, felt the board was “hijacked” by a group of parents who think it is “okay to be present where illegal activity is happening.”
“It violates all health and safety curriculum taught in Washington schools,” she wrote in a letter to the editor in the Aug. 1 Islands’ Sounder. “Athlete or not, why would any parent or guardian of a young person give their teen the ‘job’ of policing other young people engaged in illegal and unsafe behavior, with the responsibility of ‘rescuing’ another teen? …. A teen who refuses to attend an event where alcohol and other drugs might be present sends a positive message to other teens.”
The policy change goes into effect with the 2012-13 fall sports season.
Cali Bagby contributed to this story.
