STUDENTS SIGN ON TO HIGHER STANDARDS

By Peter Kelley, Staff Writer

To participate in a high school club or sport, students no longer just need
to show up or suit up. They must also sign on the dotted line.

And the documents they sign schools' cocurricular codes are a
promise of good behavior and absolute sobriety at all times, at school or
at home.

The codes are farreaching, heavy with disciplinary threat and hard to
enforce. But most school administrators and even many students say
they are appropriate and necessary.

"Having a higher standard for kids is not a bad thing," said Mike
Schweigert, SedroWoolley High School vice principal and that district's
athletic director. "But you have to make sure they know what's expected of
them."

The tougher standards also seem to be causing a flurry of disciplinary
suspensions. About 20 students have been suspended for code violations this
year at Mount Vernon High School, said Principal Ken Roberts. All are back
on their clubs or teams now.

But similar suspensions are taking place countywide. This year so far,
SedroWoolley High has had two, Stanwood seven, BurlingtonEdison six, and
Anacortes one. Concrete, with the county's fiercest football team, has had
none.

The Mount Vernon School Board updated its cocurricular code last summer,
adding tough language that can boot students from their club or sport for a
year for a single violation.

Other districts have made similar changes, and some have had such language
for several years.

Richard Roozen, president of the Mount Vernon School Board, said that board
was responding to community sentiments in rewriting its code.

"It was felt by the entire board that we had to do something to start
controlling the abuse of alcohol and drugs," Roozen said. "The whole policy
was not created for punishment, but rather to motivate students to refrain
from alcohol and drug use."

He also said the codes help students by giving them a tool to battle peer
pressure regarding substance use.

"All these codes are nothing new, they've been around for a long time. But
we did go through the process to make the codes more proactive, and to make
sure they are workable documents," said Schweigert of SedroWoolley.

The codes differ in strength from district to district. In Mount Vernon a
student can lose a year of eligibility for a single violation, while other
schools suspend only for part or all of a team or club's season. Most of
the codes are accumulative, meaning a new school year does not bring a
fresh start.

Students tend to have mixed views on the new regulations.

Some claim they didn't understand or fully read the code they signed.
Others simply think the policy goes too far or is inconsistently enforced.
Still, many say the codes reflect a standard of behavior athletes should
already be living by.

"The only people who understood the (new) code were the six administrators
in the office," said Chris Vance, 18, a senior and football player at Mount
Vernon High.

Vance also questioned administrators' ways of ferreting out information
from students about the misbehavior of others.

"You need proof in a court of law, but you don't need proof in an
administrator's office," he said.

Roberts said he tries to make sure the policy is evenly enforced, but
mistakes can be made.

"Any time you are going to implement a policy you want to do it fairly. If
we've made some errors or oversights, it was never our intention."

At Anacortes High School, posters on the wall warn students about sticking
to the guidelines of the cocurricular code. There, members of the Debate
Club discussed the code on a recent afternoon and fell into what they do
best, debating.

Some noted that district's "proximity clause," where school officials can
discipline students for being near misbehavior, though they rarely do.
Others said students of legal age should be allowed to do as they please.

"Whatever you do on your own personal time is your own damn business," said
Daniele Davies, 16.

"The new codes are great," said Phil Bruner, 17, a member of several sports
teams. "If you're an athlete you automatically qualify yourself to be a
role model ... and not drinking and not partying is a part of that."

"It's good for sports because part of that is staying in shape," said Nora
Flagg, 17. "But outside the season it should not be a big deal."

Administrators say their cocurricular codes are open to annual revision.
Anacortes High Principal Keith Rittel said rules covering student
selfreferrals are among those that may need finetuning.

But above all else, do such codes work?

Bill Giller, principal of Concrete High School, thinks they do.

"I think you have to be careful. The essence of all policy is fairness. But
I also think the policy is educational in nature. And if you make a mistake
you're going to be held accountable for it," Giller said.

"And we had the drug dog in here yesterday and there was not a single hit.
That's a credit to the kids."