Swampscott board rejects health policy petition

SWAMPSCOTT – The Board of Selectmen finalized the Town Meeting warrant after unanimously voting to not support a petition that seeks to invalidate the high school’s controversial chemical health policy.”I think it should be between the School Committee and the petitioners,” explained Selectman Richard Malagrifa after the Board’s meeting Tuesday night. “This statute is so broad.”Article 10 on the warrant asks Town Meeting members to 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.Many parents and community members have supported 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 a student’s eighth grade graduation to his or her high-school graduation.Selectman David Van Dam said that he was concerned that adopting the statute would inadvertently “abandon things that have worked in the past,” concerning the issue of teen substance abuse.”Everybody cares about the children,” he said approvingly. “The way we get there is the difference.”