ASAA to consider new drug policy for high school athletes
Published Wednesday, April 23, 2008
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Stumble It!SITKA -- At a meeting to begin Sunday, the Alaska State Activities Association is expected to implement a new statewide drug, alcohol and tobacco policy for students who participate in athletics and other interscholastic activities.
Sitka officials said they generally agree with the spirit of the new ASAA policy, which includes progressively harsher penalties for each instance when a student is caught using drugs, alcohol or tobacco.
But some are expressing concerns about having the state mandate a local policy, and about the severity of some of the penalties.
A requirement that schools submit information about students who have violated the new rules to the state has also raised privacy concerns.
Currently, Sitka athletes caught using drugs or alcohol are barred from participating in their activity for 30 consecutive school days, or the entire season, whichever is longer.
Tobacco is treated differently than alcohol and drugs under Sitka's current policy -- a student caught smoking can't compete in games for 10 days, but is permitted to take part in team practice.
The new state policy lumps drugs, alcohol and tobacco together and provides harsher punishments for repeat offenders.
For the third offense, a student would be banned from state-sponsored activities for a calendar year. A fourth strike, under the new rules, would bar a student from sports and activities for the remainder of his high school career.
The fourth strike ban -- which Superintendent Steve Bradshaw termed the "death penalty" -- has caused the most concern locally. Sitka school officials worry about its finality, and whether banning a student with an apparent drug or alcohol problem from participating in any activity is effective policy.
"I think the policy is more punitive than progressive," said Scott McAdams, president of the Sitka School Board. McAdams said he had seen immature ninth graders make "awful decisions," but that these students, under the tutelage of coaches, can often get their lives together.
He said the new policy could deprive some students of the "opportunity to grow up and experience the positive learning that goes on with activities."
"I don't think that serves kids well," McAdams said.
McAdams also expressed concern that ASAA was mandating policies that are, in general, better left to local school boards.
McAdams' concerns, both about the finality of the policy and the loss of local control, were shared by Bradshaw, who will represent Sitka at the two-day ASAA meeting in Petersburg.
"I've seen a lot of freshman and sophomores go through rocky times," Bradshaw said. "Those are difficult times and they make a lot of inappropriate choices. But usually they mature out of it."
Bradshaw said that telling a student he cannot participate in activities removes the "final carrot," that might keep him engaged in school.
"I really struggle with a policy that says, on the fourth time, 'this kid is done.'"
The new ASAA policy is actually less severe than Sitka's when it comes to the first strike. Since the 2004-05 school year, Sitka athletes caught using drugs or alcohol lose 30 days or their entire season, whichever is longer.
Under the ASAA policy a first-time offender will be suspended from interscholastic activities and practice for 10 calendar days. Five days will be forgiven, if the student and parent "complete the First Offense educational component," the policy states.
For the second strike, the student will be barred from competition for 45 calendar days, but can return to practice after completing another educational program.
The educational component is described by ASAA as a "series of DVD's, software and Web-based training programs and counseling."
Gary Matthews, ASAA executive director, said the educational component would be finalized at the Petersburg meeting. He said the policy was "95 percent done."
"There's some final tweaking," Matthews said. "But this is has been in development for a few years."
He said the program is being implemented because of the absence of a "statewide policy that's consistent from school to school."
He said there has been increasing frustration in recent years that athletes from different communities are treated differently when it comes to drug and alcohol use.
He also said the policy was meant to support school administrators, particularly in small villages, who are often pressured to let athletes participate after a drug or alcohol violation.
"This takes the local politics out of it," Matthews said.
In conjunction with the state's effort to "level the playing field," with a consistent statewide drug and alcohol policy, the new rules also require school districts to report violations to ASAA within three days.
A draft of the new policy said ASAA intends to "maintain the confidentiality of such reports."
However, information about violations in Sitka would be sent to school districts around the state. Matthews explained that schools need to know if a player from another school has violated the rules. For instance, if Haines comes here for a basketball game, Sitka administrators would know if a member of their team had been caught drinking and was barred from playing.
Sitka High Principal Howard Wayne said this provision concerns him _ he's not entirely comfortable providing information about a student to a state organization.
Jeffrey Mittman, the executive director of the American Civil Liberty Union's Alaska Chapter, agreed.
"The ACLU always has concerns when privacy rights are implicated," Mittman said.
He said the ASAA policy, as currently written, does not indicate how information about students will be handled once they graduate. He also said it was troublesome that information about students would be traded among schools.
The new ASAA policy defines minimum punishments that school districts must enact, but Wayne said it was likely that SHS would move to bump up the penalties for first-time offenders.
Prior to 2004, Sitka's policy was somewhat similar to what ASAA has proposed for the first strike. However, at the outset of the 2004-05 school year, Sitka ramped up its punishments and Wayne said there has been an appreciable drop in the number of athletes caught using drugs or alcohol.
At a recent meeting attended by students, parents, coaches and administrators, Wayne said there was support for a local effort to change ASAA's policy.
Wayne said one proposal involved athletes' losing 50 percent of their season for a first offense, with a ban on that student traveling with the team.
Sitka athletes currently sign a consent agreement _ it is required to participate in a sport _ that subjects them to random drug testing. Wayne said five percent of Sitka's athletes are tested each week. (Students participating in drama, debate and forensics are not drug tested, but they are subject to Sitka's drug, alcohol and tobacco policies).
The consent form also cites the school district's policy regarding alcohol and tobacco use.
Under the new ASAA plan, students would be required to watch a DVD at the start of each season and sign a form stating they understood the state's drug and alcohol policy, Matthews said.
The state's new policy will be in effect throughout the school year, which also represents a departure from Sitka's current rules. A Sitka basketball player, who does not participate in other sports, and is caught drinking in September, or April, is not subject to penalties. The player is governed by Sitka's policy only during the season in which he is participating on an interscholastic team.
Mittman said the ACLU was also concerned about this provision in the state's new policy. Participation in sports is generally billed as a privilege that gives schools certain jurisdiction to impose rules. However, he said it seemed inappropriate for information about students who are not, at the time of an infraction, participating in a sport to be forwarded to a "centralized database."
There is some punitive crossover in Sitka, because many athletes participate in multiple sports. As one example, baseball practice has already begun when the Region V basketball tournament wraps up. So a player caught drinking at the end of the basketball season, would miss the start of baseball season while serving his 30-day suspension.
There are also no penalties for repeat offenses in Sitka's system. A basketball player caught drinking in January would be out for the season. But if he is caught with drug paraphernalia the next week, there would be no additional punishment because that player has already lost his season.
This would change under the new ASAA system. Matthews explained that once a player is brought into the system _ this will happen once he signs up for an interscholastic sport, as early as August of a student's freshman year for fall sports _ he is subject to the penalties throughout the school year.
A Sitka basketball player _ perhaps a junior _ who is caught with drugs in October, would have one strike, even though the season had not yet begun. And that same player, if he is caught drinking in April, would accumulate a second strike.
It is unclear how punishments for strikes accumulated "out-of-season" will be meted out.
Matthews said summer vacation will be exempt from the policy. The policy is expected to be implemented July 28, the first day of high school football practice in Alaska.
Community Discussion
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"McAdams also expressed concern that ASAA was mandating policies that are, in general, better left to local school boards."
We can see how well that works, when kids can be a failure in the classroom and still be allowed to participate in EXTRA CURRICULAR activities, what message are we sending our children?
Scotty Berg: "... when kids can be a failure in the classroom and still be allowed to participate in EXTRA CURRICULAR activities, what message are we sending our children?"
Mr. Berg, I would presume that the point of withdrawing kids from extracurricular activities was to give them more time to work on their studies, since they apparently couldn't keep up.
However, the use by minors outside of school of alcohol, tobacco, and "drugs" -- however detrimental to personal health -- has no necessary bearing on the minors' ability to keep up with school work and has no necessary effect on their functioning in athletics. Therefore, the solution ASAA is proposing has no relation to the problem; it is arbitrarily punitive.
If any of the drugs involved were performance-enhancers, then a prohibition from athletics would be just. But students who use tobacco or abuse drugs deserve our help and support -- not our condemnation, and not the exclusion from healthy activities.
this sounds a little harsh to me. I know that for me, sports in high school kept me out of a lot of trouble. If you take away the option of all extracurricular activities over a few mistakes then kids will have less of a reason to stay out of more trouble. They are just kids, they will make mistakes.
How many mistakes are you allowed to make? It is nice to see a policy, but who is going to make the schools report? Look at what happened in Galena this year. That was a travesty. You must realize that some people put more of an emphasis on basketball or sports than the well being of the kid. I just don't see this working. The honest schools will report, the others will continue doing what they do.
i think we need to start at the top and work our way down. make sure the ones in care of our students are doing the right thing first. are they held accountable? i have seen leaders pulled over for DUI and nothing happen, coaches get DWI and only miss a season of coaching etc......
some kids in coastal communities have to deal with issues alot roughter than city kids, its a hugh state with many issues that are different in all regions.
sports help kids stay straight or at least gives them the chance to be on something positive and a way to build pride in ones self. for me they were anyways.
to play in fbks you must have a 2.0 with only one F. we need coaches who care and will walk the halls and find students that will help their sport become winners. everyone loves a winner! winning brings pride to the school and community.
my experience in coaching has taught me that younger students will want to be a part of a program thats a winner and at a early age will do their best to make sure they have a chance to do so. coaches should help the student get the grade buy spending extra time with them. some coaches think you have to want to make it on your own if you want to play but in reality some kids need support and help from teachers, co-students and caring coaches to make the grade. this is for many different reasons that i wont get into right now.
peace
Mr. Berg,
I was surprised to come across this during my lunch break. Here are a few thoughts from my humble view:
As it relates to local control, my message to any kid, parent, or Alaskan is to fight for your right to self determine your destiny through local governance. Locally controlled public education is and will only continue to face a barrage of far removed take over attempts. I believe that public policy is best served when communities can hold locally elected leadership accountable. What mechanism do parents have to hold ASAA directly accountable?
In the same spirit as Mr. Matthews comment, I'd like to take the politics out of Alaskan school activities in general, to include better consideration of the interest of all Alaska's schools and kids. I question ASAA's efficacy in enforcing policy, and am concerned that this one might do more harm than good.
I would like nothing more than to keep every kid from making bad, life altering decisions, yet I also hope that we have all the tools we need to support, encourage and motivate those problem kids to turn themselves around. I believe that high school activities are one of those tools that I don't want to see arbitrarily relinquished.
We drug test student athletes in the Sitka school district, have an 87% high school graduation rate, and have some of the highest testing proficiency levels in Alaska. I don't think we need an external political entity like ASAA mandating anything on our district. When our kids fall, we do our best to pick them up and dust them off, not just throw them away. We're not perfect in that regard, but if my community doesn't like the efforts I make as a board member, they have recourse at the ballot box.
Alaska and America are not great because of external frameworks and mandates cast down from the far on high; they are great because of our liberty born freedom to organize and decide our destiny at the local level. I am best positioned to make decisions on behalf of my own kids, and Sitka is best positioned to make decisions on behalf its community’s kids. My message to kids is that I care about them and their future, even when they behave badly, and that we as a district will dedicate time, resources and effort to the best of our ability to ensure their success.
Thanks for reading,
Scott McAdams
borderdog 4/24/2008, 8:51 a.m. Suggest removal How many mistakes are you allowed to make? It is nice to see a policy, but who is going to make the schools report? Look at what happened in Galena this year. That was a travesty. You must realize that some people put more of an emphasis on basketball or sports than the well being of the kid. I just don't see this working. The honest schools will report, the others will continue doing what they do.
What happened in Galena?
They are the state Champion.
I agree with Mr McAdams this is best left to Local boards and Administrations and Parents. I once took my own kid off a Jr. high team after he got caught, only to see the two other kids that where with him still out there. I'm painfully aware of the perils of having teenagers.
One size does not fit all!
It is just another life lesson.
I don't think ASAA has been doing a stellar job either.
The whole point of my initial comment was that under school board control students can get an "F" (be a failure) in classes and still participate in activities. I can't say that is true everywhere in the state, but it seems to me that more emphasis should be put on ensuring an education than on having good teams. Too many really hard working students that get really good grades are left off teams so that those that are failing in classes can play. I have not seen where allowing someone to participate has led to better grades, but that's because you don't have to get better grades.
As far as drug, alcohol and tobacco policy for kids participating, if it didn't happen on school grounds or at a school sanctioned event then how can they control it or penalize for it. Sounds like good policy to have stated penalties if it does happen on school grounds. You also have to ask why there would be different policies from the school boards, and why is it so hard to have one entity regulate the activities. The privacy issue is easily solved, you want to participate you must allow the school to see your records from previous schools.
It sounds an awful lot like ASAA are trying to be big brother. That said ASAA and the school boards should try to clean up what happens at school first. And the first step would require that they get (and keep) passing grades in all classes in order to participate.
Mr. Adasiak,
I have to reply to your comment since it makes no sense to me. Obviously you read what you wanted into my statement.
You propose that even though those activities are forbidden on school grounds that there should be no penalty if it occurs on school grounds?
We (who the schools) should try to fix them?
How do you propose we do this?
They are making the life choice, they have been educated about it, they can read about it every day in the newspaper, see it every day on TV, etc...
Sports are suppose to be a bonus for being good students and citizens, there should be some standards other than just showing up for class once in awhile.
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