CONNEAUT —
School board members in the city are putting the finishing touches on a new drug/alcohol policy for student athletes that gives first-time offenders a chance to salvage a sports season while also offering counseling.
The revamped policy, discussed over the past several weeks — most recently a Tuesday night work session — could be ready for a vote at Thursday night’s regular board meeting.
Earlier this year, board member Sonny Heinonen urged fellow members to take another look at the Conneaut Area City Schools’ policy dealing with discipline for athletes who violate the rules. Heinonen has said he believes the current policy, which obliges an athlete to sit down the entire season, is too harsh.
The latest incarnation discussed Tuesday would see a student with a first offense sit out 20 percent of the games his sport is scheduled to play, beginning with the 2012-2013 school year, if he agrees to attend a district-approved intervention program. If the student balks at attending the program, he would forego the entire season.
The same penalty would apply to an offender whose preferred sport season hasn’t begun. The policy, to be finalized by Superintendent Kent Houston, will also address students who try to circumvent the penalty by dropping out of a sport or switching to a new activity.
It was unclear whether the policy would apply to other school extracurriculars.
Some school administrators have defended the current policy, saying students sign a “contract” prior to the start of their season that states the off-the-team penalty for violations.
In other business, board members authorized Houston to continue negotiations — using a special construction attorney — with the Ohio Schools Facility Commission regarding the amount of money the district must surrender related to the district’s $45 million building improvement program from a few years ago. Not all the money raised by the district to cover its share of the project has been spent, and is tucked in a special reserve fund to cover contingencies related to the project.
The district believes it should hang onto $1.275 million, while the OSFC believes much of that money should be applied to the district’s share of the cost of constructing Lakeshore Primary School, a late addition to the original program. The board wants to hang onto as much as possible to help cover the cost of repairs to the new buildings. Roofs still leak at some locations, and pavement in some spots is suspect.
The OSFC does not want to get involved in roof work, choosing to leave the district some money to handle repairs on its own, Houston said. Repairs done by local contractors, instead of firms chosen by OSFC, have turned out well, he said.
The program resulted in Lakeshore, Gateway Elementary and Conneaut Middle schools, as well as improvements and an expansion of Conneaut High School. The work was finalized in 2005. The OSFC contributed 84 percent of the overall construction money, the district 14 percent — primarily via a levy approved by voters.
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