NO SMOKE SCREENS AT SHEN

The dopey high school kids who smoked dope on a recent
school-sponsored trip learned - we hope - that actions have
consequences.

The students, members of the varsity ice hockey team for southern
Saratoga County's Shenendehowa High School, got caught using
marijuana in a room at a hotel where they - and many of their parents
- - were staying during a tournament.

As far as we can tell, the matter was dealt with promptly, reasonably
and fairly by the coach, principal and school superintendent.

In a nutshell: The kids signed a code of conduct, they broke the code
and, as a result, eight of them are off the team.

For the district to have done any more - such as calling in police -
would have been overkill. Yes, it's against the law to possess
marijuana, but in this case it was enough to put an end to the party
and handle the penalties internally.

For the district to have done any less - such as merely turning the
teens over to their parents - would have cost the coach, principal
and superintendent the most precious of commodities, their
credibility. Kids might do dumb stuff, but they're not stupid; a code
of conduct is meaningless if the adults responsible for enforcing it
are content to look the other way.

By the way, rules and consequences ought to apply across the board.
Every student, not just athletes, ought to be held to the same
reasonable standards of conduct, whether they're a member of a sports
team, drama club, math club or the tiddlywinks team. Belonging to
any extracurricular activity is a privilege, and each student is a
representative of his or her school district.

In the varsity ice hockey case, it's too bad that the kids lost their
chance to continue playing. They hurt themselves and their team. But
they just might have come away with a very reasonably priced lesson -
that there are consequences to one's actions.