YORK TIGHTENS POLICIES ON DRUGS AND ALCOHOL

YORK -- Beginning next year, York County Schools students risk missing out
on things like athletics or band practices, the prom and graduation if they
violate the school district's drug and alcohol policies.

The School Board voted Monday night to add a mandatory penalty to its
2003-04 Student Handbook/Code of Conduct that calls for students found
guilty of using drugs or alcohol to lose their extracurricular activities
privileges for 60 school days. The penalty would be in addition to any
disciplinary action taken against the student such as detention, parent
conferences, court referral or suspension.

Because of the possible severe consequences for students, school officials
plan to spend the summer and the beginning of the school year informing
parents and students about it.

"We have to give children a reason to say no to abusing school policy,"
said board member Don Felling. "We also need to send a real message to
parents and students that this kind of behavior is not tolerated in the
York County school division."

School administration officials recommended a 90-day penalty, but board
members said 60 days would be harsh punishment enough.

Under the newly adopted policies, the 60-day penalty clock would begin
ticking the day after the violation occurred, said Superintendent Steven
Staples. But the punishment would not be imposed, he said, until after the
student's formal hearing before the School Board and only if the student is
found guilty.

The 60 days also could carry over from one semester or school year to the
next, depending on when the violation occurred. Weekends, holidays and
breaks do not count.

That means if a senior violates the policy in May, he or she might not be
able to attend graduation ceremonies in June. For other students, such as
juniors or sophomores, the 60 days would stop at the end of the school year
and resume when school begins in the fall. That means they'd miss out on
any extracurricular activities they might be involved in.

While the new policies still gives students a right to appeal their case to
the board, it also gives the board the authority to impose additional
punishment like expulsion, if needed.

"If guilt is admitted, though, I suggest that we not hear an appeal that
just deals with the harshness of the new penalty," Felling said.

School officials cited several reasons for the stricter policies.

"There are two reasons why we're doing this," Felling said. "One is we
thought it would be appropriate to have a formal policy for the school
district and the other is that we've seen an increase in the number of
disciplinary actions for alcohol and drugs."

This past school year, the York County school district had 10
alcohol-related discipline cases, compared with five last year, school
officials said.

Another factor is the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which requires
states to allow students to transfer out of unsafe public schools.

To address that issue, the Virginia Board of Education in April adopted
criteria for what makes a school unsafe. Under the policy, schools will be
assigned points for violent crimes and drug dealing on campus during school
hours or activities. Schools exceeding a point limit, based on enrollment,
for three consecutive years would be labeled persistently dangerous.

Schools are already required to report crimes to the state Department of
Education. That data will be used to determine which schools - if any -
should be branded chronically unsafe.

The No Child Left Behind Act also says students who are victims of violent
crime at school must be allowed to transfer - a requirement already imposed
by state law.