Swampscott parents praise school’s new health policy

SWAMPSCOTT – Swampscott High School Principal Layne Millington received more support than criticism from parents during Wednesday night’s meeting regarding the school’s new chemical health policy.One parent stressed that she was appreciative of the measures that Millington was taking.”Other districts say how lucky they are that our principal is doing something about a major problem,” said parent Anne Gold. “It happens in their community too, but our principal is actually doing something about it. I think the silent majority here does support (our principal).”The meeting, which was scheduled to run for an hour but ran close to two, was not mandatory for parents to attend as past meetings were, but Millington says it was primarily held to give parents a chance to pose questions to him about the new policy, which was not an option at the past meetings.Millington said he decided not to allow questions at the past meetings because he had heard that parents were planning on protesting by turning up the ringers on their cell phones and having someone call them repeatedly.”Because of the protests going on by people in the audience, there would have been no opportunity for a conversation,” he said. “My goal here tonight is to answer all of those questions.”Millington jokingly told the audience that while he would rather not be there until 3 a.m., he was willing to stay well past the one-hour scheduled time in order to answer as many questions as possible.The crux of the change in the policy is that now students who want to participate in all extracurricular activities – and not just sports – will be forced to abide by the policy.”It fixes the disparity between athletes and other students,” Millington said. “The new policy covers all students participating in any extra-curricular activities including clubs and any other privileged school activity.”The consequences of violating the policy could result in barring the student from participating in activities and/ or attending non-curricular activities such as dances.Students in clubs who violate the policy will be required to attend an in-school counseling session as an added educational component, or more than one session if needed, before being able to continue participating in the club.”This is not intended to be rehab,” Millington said. “It will be a thoughtful interaction with a counselor about choices in order for students to mentally think their way through it. A lot of good can come out of these conversations and could seriously change students’ future decisions.”Athletes who violate the policy will also be required to attend counseling before being able to participate in games, but will still be allowed to practice.Millington said this decision was made because students could get injured if they stopped practicing, attended counseling and then jumped right back into playing in games.”If a student athlete gets in trouble, they can still participate in practices to avoid injuries and getting hurt,” said Millington. “However, they will not be allowed to play in games until they go through counseling.”If athletes decide not to attend counseling altogether, Millington said they would face a one-year suspension from the team.One parent, who wished to remain anonymous because his wife works for the Swampscott school district, asked Millington if he thought that the new policy would push students away from participating in sports and extracurricular activities.Millington said pretty straightforwardly that he doesn’t think it will.”The majority of students already involved are there because they want to be,” said Millington. “The majority of athletes do what they need to do to go back. I don’t believe that it will push students away. It’s possible, but I don’t believe it will.”The new policy enforces the current Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) rules and regulations policy, but goes beyond MIAA regulations by extending enforcement of the policy to 365 days a year.S