Get caught drinking, and prepare to sit

~ policies at local high schools ranges from a one-game suspsension to suspension from school for the school year.

Scott City High School student-athletes caught possessing or consuming alcohol for the first time are punished with a two-week suspension, preventing them from participating in games.

Still, two Rams athletes, who play both football and basketball and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor alcohol charges in between the fall and winter sports seasons, were able to continue participating without having to miss a single contest.

"Our policy says [the suspension] begins the day we get word of it," Scott City athletic director Sally O'Brien said. "We got word of it [Nov.] 16. So their suspension started on the 16th. And it was two weeks from that date. Our policy does not say anything about practice. They cannot participate in games, and it just so happens that our basketball team didn't have its first game until Dec. 4."

The two athletes, whose names the Southeast Missourian decided not to publish, were pulled over by police for possession by consumption of alcohol -- one while operating a motor vehicle -- during Week 8 of the football season. It happened the morning of a football game.

They appeared in court Nov. 15. That was 14 days after the fall football season ended, and almost three weeks before the basketball regular season started.

O'Brien said the school did not discuss moving the suspension back a few weeks so the two would miss basketball games.

"That not how our policy reads," O'Brien said. "And we're looking at our policy."

Seventeen of the 21 high schools in the Southeast Missourian's coverage area, including Scott City, have some sort of written policy for dealing with student-athletes found to be involved with either the consumption or possession of alcohol on or off school grounds.

The alcohol policies that local school boards, administrators and athletic directors have devised to punish first-, second- and third-time offenders are diverse. First-time disciplinary action, for instance, ranges from a one-game suspension to suspension from school and school-related activities for the remainder of the school year.

Some schools also differ on whether to allow coaches to increase a punishment or have a voice in how a student is reprimanded.

These policies are in response to the continued use of alcohol among teenagers.

Seventy-two percent of 12th graders in 2007 admitted to using alcohol at some point during their life, according to the "Monitoring the Future" survey by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research. The survey also revealed that 66.4 percent of high school seniors admitted to using alcohol in the past year, 44.4 percent admitted to using it in the past month and 3.1 percent said they used it daily.

Local athletic directors say they understand that high school students are using alcohol and punishment is necessary.

"I'm not naive enough to think we don't have students, and among those students, athletes, who are consuming alcohol," Central athletic director Mark Ruark said. "We had a couple of pretty highly publicized cases five or six years ago, but none in the last three. But again, I'm not naive enough to think that it's not going on."

Sometimes it is difficult for a school to punish student-athletes, especially when a team is winning and those who are in trouble are starters.

That was the case at Chaffee earlier this decade.

Chaffee's policy calls for suspending first-time offenders from competing for the remainder of the athletic season. Second-time offenders are restricted from competing in athletics for the remainder of the school year.

"Six or seven years ago we won the consolation of the [Southeast Missourian] Christmas Tournament, and two weeks later we lost two or three starters, plus a fourth one, because of it," Chaffee athletic director Terry Glenzy said. "They were caught, and we got wind of it. We called them in, and they all admitted it. ... And those kids were let go. Of course, it made for a long basketball season. We were having a pretty good season at the time."

Despite the decline in the team's success, Glenzy said he agreed with the lengthy punishments, adding that policies that call for two weeks or fewer are too lenient.

Chaffee, along with Central and Delta, are the only three local schools with policies that dismiss first-time offenders from their teams for the remainder of the athletic season.

First-offense penalties vary in length from school to school.

Saxony Lutheran has a nine-week probationary and suspension period. St. Vincent suspends offenders for 30 percent of contests. Notre Dame does not allow offenders to participate for one-third of the season. Meadow Heights dismisses offenders for 33 percent of contests or the remainder of the season, whichever is greater.

Furthermore, punishments differ not only from school to school, but also in their wording.

For example, Scott City, Kelly and Woodland also suspend student-athletes for two weeks, but Kelly is the only one of the three high schools to include practice time in addition to games in the penalty.

Some schools also allow their policies to carry over into the following athletic season if there is not enough time in the current season to complete a suspension.

The Missouri State High School Activities Association allows each of its member schools to decide policies, only preventing student-athletes from competing if they are found guilty by law enforcement and have not yet completed legal terms or probation, such as jail time, community service or counseling, according to the MSHSAA handbook.

Once those conditions are completed, then MSHSAA allows schools to determine the punishment and whether an offender is allowed to participate, MSHSAA's Stacy Schroeder said.

Coach's decision vs. school policy

John Martin coached for 15 years before accepting his position as athletic director at Jackson.

He once led the boys basketball team at Oak Ridge, where coaches are allowed to punish their student-athletes beyond the written policy, which states that first-time offenders cannot participate in 25 percent of the season or the remainder of games, and a second offense leads to dismissal from the team or activity for the season.

"I've kicked kids off, no tolerance, one time and you're done," Martin said. "I've kicked them off for that season.

"When I was over at Oak Ridge, I had to do that a couple times, but that's kind of my personal feeling on it. I have not had to deal with it a lot. But I'm kind of a zero-tolerance type of guy."

Martin tends to be in favor of allowing coaches the right to have a voice in the punishment of their athletes.

Glenzy said Chaffee allowed each of its coaches to decide the punishments until the 1997-98 school year. It was at that time that the school district decided it would be best to incorporate a universal policy, which Glenzy said all the coaches had a voice in creating.

"We had some coaches who were kicking out a kid who got caught for alcohol, and we had others who they disciplined them differently," Glenzy said.

Still, some think giving coaches a say is important.

"I would like to think most coaches here would [go beyond the written policy]," Oak Ridge athletic director Jason Niswonger said, adding that one of the strengths of his school's policy is the part that allows coaches to add to it.

Are the policies effective?

Oran is one of the three local high schools, including Advance and Leopold, to treat each case individually.

A member of the Oran baseball team was caught with alcohol in October 2006, Oran athletic director Denver Stuckey said, and the school penalty included community service, which needed to be completed if the athlete wanted to play baseball the next spring.

"He had to do a lot of work up here with the janitors, and he had to help some local businesses out and stuff like that," Stuckey said. "It was upward to [50 hours of community service]. We didn't think he'd do it, and he did.

"He probably wished he got kicked off the team for as much as he did."

Punishments vary from suspension time to physical labor, but how effective are each of these policies, and which ones work best?

St. Vincent athletic director Bruce Valleroy debates whether his school's policy is strong enough. A first offense results in a suspension for 30 percent of the games.

"I think, in a way, it may not be strict enough," he said. "But they do sign a paper for us, a pledge sheet saying they will not do that kind of thing. And of course, some of them still do it.

"Kids will be kids, so we are trying to be lenient with them when it comes to that. But we also try to stress to them not to do it because it not only hurts themselves, but it also hurts their teammates and hurts their school and hurts their community."

Ruark said the strength of a policy lies in how well it fits the community where the school is located.

"I think each school district, in regards to the [MSHSAA] citizenship guidelines, needs to come up with what their community is comfortable with, and what their school district is comfortable with and what fits their philosophy," Ruark said. "I am only going to be concerned with what Cape Central's policy is. And I certainly support the policy we have. It's a good policy, and it certainly [fits] our school district's philosophy. And it has endured over a period of time."

Meadow Heights athletic director Tom Brown said he thinks a policy should help students build character. Meadow Heights suspends students for either 33 percent of the season or the remainder of the season, whichever is greater, for the first offense.

"It goes by our objective, which is to hold our athletes to a greater degree of self-esteem and self-discipline," Brown said. "So I think it is very good, and all the kids and parents have to sign it before they are allowed to play. I think we've got a good one."

Hearsay vs. actual evidence

Perryville athletic director Jeff Steffens said his school has a case just about every year. The school last had one during spring 2007 involving a then-track and field and football player.

Perryville's policy suspends student-athletes from participating in 20 percent of the season. In addition, student-athletes are also given a 365-day probation period. If the student-athlete is caught on probation, he or she would not be allowed to play sports for the rest of his or her time at the school.

Steffens said one important part of the policy is that student-athletes have to receive a ticket or be caught by a faculty or staff member for the policy to take effect.

"We don't want to get into the hearsay policy, or we may have kids doing that all the time, trying to get kids in trouble," Steffens said.

Many local athletic directors emphasized the importance of having actual evidence.

"You've got to make sure you research it," Martin said. "Someone could be making the story up because they're jealous their kid is not playing as much. They're trying to find anything. You hate to say that, but there are people out there like that. So you've got to be really kind of careful."

Needing actual evidence or a statement from the police limits the number of student-athletes who get caught by their schools.

"If it's a juvenile, we don't have access to those records and information, so we don't catch everybody," Steffens said. "I'm sure there are kids who get caught with things, but we never find out about it."

Although it might be difficult to put these policies into action because evidence is needed, many administrators believe that when a student-athlete is caught, punishment is necessary because student-athletes are leaders and expected to set a positive example.

Eagle Ridge athletic director Jamie Crowell said her school does not have a policy specifically for student-athletes. Eagle Ridge suspends any student caught with alcohol for the remainder of the school year, unless the student fulfills certain requirements, which are not in writing, to earn his or her way back into school.

"If they were allowed to come back to the school, they would not play the sport of the current season," Crowell said. "And I would have to meet with the school board to determine if they would play any sports for the rest of the school year. The reason being that they are role models for our younger students, and that's not tolerated."

Student-athletes' thoughts

Notre Dame senior Mark Himmelberg, who plays soccer, basketball and baseball, said he thinks these policies help some student-athletes to keep away from drinking.

"To an extent, I think they do [work]," Himmelberg said. "They keep a lot of kids who are borderline on the issue morally anyway from going out and drinking because they know they have something to worry about, and they know the consequences. But for those kids who don't have a problem with drinking, I don't think it stops them. I think it helps the kids who are borderline."

Both Jackson senior athletes Matt Lang and Spencer Goodman said the polices are effective.

"I sign three [pledges not to drink] a year," Lang said. "Everyone knows right from wrong and what they have to do in order to be on a team. When they sign that, it is pretty much signing a contract they're not going to do anything stupid during a [season]. And if you're committed, and I think most people around here are really committed to their sports, and that's what makes Jackson such a great program, then I think it makes a big difference. I think it scares kids and lets them know what's going on and warns them a little bit."