Swampscott health policy under fire

SWAMPSCOTT – A citizen’s petition to enact a law that forbids punishing students for “conduct which is not connected with any school-sponsored activities” has reignited controversy over the school’s Chemical Health Policy, as petitioners and school officials debate whether the petition’s approval would appropriately limit, or completely eliminate, the school’s ability to discipline students.”I think that this law reminds everybody that if something doesn’t happen at school, it’s somebody else’s job to deal with it and that can be many people: parents, courts, police, mental-health professionals?etc.” said Dr. Judy Bevis, who helped coordinate the petition effort. “When school administration comes in and asserts that it has responsibility for people’s behavior, 365 days a year, then that is a problem.”But School Committee Chair Jacqueline Kinney believed adopting the law would have unintended consequences.”My feeling is that this is a misguided effort by a small group of people who don’t have an understanding of what this statute will mean,” she countered. “It would essentially render the school unable to discipline its students, it would really tie their hands and I really don’t think anybody wants that.”According to a copy of the petition submitted to the Town Clerk’s Office, petitioners are asking that Town Meeting members accept Sections 84 and 86 of Massachusetts General Law Chapter 71. The law states that “(n)o student shall be suspended, expelled, or otherwise disciplined on account of marriage, pregnancy, parenthood or for conduct which is not connected with any school-sponsored activities.”Adopting the law would essentially invalidate the high school’s controversial Chemical Health Policy, which forbids students who have been caught illegally using, distributing or possessing controlled substances from participating in extra-curricular activities for a year unless they attend in-school counseling. But while many parents and community members have indicated support for the policy’s intent, they have expressed concern that the new policy applies for all extracurricular activities and is in effect 365 days a year from the student’s eighth grade graduation to his or her high school graduation.”This petition is an attempt to get the town as a whole to look at the issue of students being disciplined for conduct occurring when not in school-sponsored activities,” said Brooks. “It goes back to the principal’s assertion that he wants to oversee students’ behavior 365 days a year.”But Kinney said that the larger problem in adopting the law would be that it contradicts more recent legislation including the so-called “bullying statute” and may disqualify the school from participating in the Massachusetts Independent Athletic Association.”It directly contradicts at least two more recently enacted statutes, which either authorize or require discipline for conduct that is unrelated to school or school activities,” Kinney said. “It is clear at least that the acceptance of Section 84 would create uncertainty with respect to these statutes, and in all likelihood, lead to litigation.”Brooks and Bevis said they would leave the legal implications to lawyers, insisting that the debate on parental versus school authority and a policy that most effectively met the needs of students dealing with substance abuse was the goal of the petition.But some town and school officials did not seem eager to renew debate on the policy.”I’m totally in support of the Chemical Health Policy,” Board of Selectman Chair Jill Sullivan said. “If the intention is to gut the chemical health policy, I’m not in favor of it.”Similarly, School Superintendent Lynne Celli offered no comment regarding the petition, saying “it was in the hands of town government now, the school committee and Town Administrator Andrew Maylor.”