PORTSMOUTH TRIES TO REFINE POLICY ON STUDENT ALCOHOL, DRUG USE

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. - The School Board is trying to create a new student drug
and alcohol policy that is stricter and more flexible at the same time.

Under current rules, students caught twice with drugs or alcohol at school
activities can be expelled for the remainder of the school year.

That leads to widely varying punishments, however, depending on the time a
year. A student caught in September could be expelled for nine months; one
caught in June could be expelled for as little as a few days.

"Those kids in the last quarter were getting a pretty light sentence," said
Chairman Kent LaPage.

To fix that discrepancy, the School Board is considering a plan to extend
such expulsions to a full year from the date the student violates the policy.

"I agree with going the full (12-month) year, not to make it more fair, but
to make it more strict," said Portsmouth High School senior Alan Robinson,
who represents students at School Board meetings.

Robinson disagreed, however, with the board's plan to be more flexible
about what it considers a second offense.

Under the new policy, students would face expulsion only if the second
offense came in the same 12-month period. On the one-year anniversary of a
first offense, a student would receive a clean slate.

School Board member Carvel Tefft said the goal was to go easier on a
student who gets caught with alcohol and drugs late in his or her senior
after several years without a violation.

"With the original policy, we were kind of boxed out," said Tefft. "We've
given ourselves more flexibility."

But Robinson said such students don't deserve a break. Very few students
abuse substances as freshmen and then stay clean for a couple years only to
start again as seniors, he said.

"Odds are, it wasn't that he stopped," said Robinson. "Odds are, he didn't
get caught."

A second offense should be a second offense, no matter when it happens," he
said. "If anything, it should be extremely strict."

The new policy also would soften the punishments for students caught with
alcohol. Under current rules, first-time offenders are automatically
suspended for five days. A second offense means a 10-day suspension and
possible expulsion.

The proposed changes call for first-time offenders to be suspended "up to"
five days, and up to 10 days for second offenses.

LaPage distinguished between heavier drugs like cocaine or LSD as opposed
to beer or wine. He said using the former should result in stricter
punishment than the latter.

"How do you treat those the same?" said LaPage. "You don't."