Board of Education members unveiled a draft of their interscholastic athletic code of conduct during Monday evening's board meeting, drawing debate over how to enforce a clause requiring student athletes adhere to the code of conduct outside of school.
"The off-campus policy, as I call it, is really the lightning rod here," said New Canaan High School Principal Tony Pavia. "It's wonderful on paper, but nobody sees the other side that burdens the school administrators."
According to the code of conduct, "When the High School has substantiated knowledge that a student athlete has engaged in materially inappropriate conduct, the individual shall be subject to the disciplinary procedures," such as suspension or even expulsion from interscholastic athletics.
Pavia expressed concern over the difficulty in keeping tabs on students outside of school.
"What's always made this difficult for me as a principal is you know that it's simply based on what you find out," said Pavia, who worried this clause can sometimes lead students to believe they're being singled out by administrators. Pavia said the high school receives and processes several unsolicited messages, Facebook pictures and other claims about athlete misbehavior every week.
"We spend an inordinate amount of time investigating and trying to substantiate or corroborate something," added Pavia. "There may be a rumor all over town there was a party, but we can't substantiate that party."
David Abbey, superintendent of New Canaan Public Schools, believes the success of an off-campus policy depends on how the school handles information they receive.
"The source of the information isn't as important as the manner in which it's given and the way the administration goes after processing the matter," said Abbey. "If this is just punitive, it's not helpful."
Other issues discussed relating to the code of conduct, were how to apply it to students in other extracurricular activities, such as theatre and drama.
"If we're going to start the year with a policy for athletes, we need to start with a policy for actors and actresses… It's only right and fair," said Vice Chairman Jenny McMahon.
Board of Education members all seemed to be in agreement the code of conduct should apply to students outside of athletics.
Before breaking for the evening, the board agreed to redraft the code of conduct and revisit it in September. If it is approved, it will be effective for the fall athletic season.
