Drug and alcohol issues at HS level... how much in paper?

I don't understand the story, steveu.

You need to explain as best you can why coaches are suspended.

On the girls at the party, I think you should treat that as whether it is newsy. Is it newsy that high school kids go to parties where alcohol is served? No.

Now of the three had been suspended from the team, you need to try to explain why they aren't there.

However, if an assistant coach told me they were at a party where alcohol was served, I would still try to talk to the parents. The assistant may not be familiar with talking to the media, she may have heard it second-hand.

Would also be a better story if the girls were suspended and the parents were outraged saying the little darlings didn't drink or anything, etc.

But if they weren't suspended, I wouldn't touch it. Unless it was the coaches throwing the party.

 

Clarification on Ace's point well taken:

1. The coaches of this program were suspended for violating what the state athletic association calls the "three player rule", meaning said coaches can't be in presence of more than three athletes in the offseason when it pertains to the sport (meaning they can't have more than three athletes on a club team they coach, for example)

2. These three girls were disciplined by the team by sitting out four matches. This program is the No. 1 team in the state in its respective class. They're not the star seniors who are headed to college programs in the fall, but they do have decent roles with the club.

Hope this clears stuff up.

 

I work at a major metro with over 70 high schools to cover, so there's no concern about "upsetting" a specific school - it's nice, because we can basically treat preps like college or pros. Of course there are situations where you want to be fair and remember they're kids, but with the way these crazy teenage thugs are acting these days, they bring on a lot of the negative press.

 

Eh, it's a paycheck either way.

 

Response to Tenacious:

I have worke din at least two states (Massachusetts and Connecticut), both as a sports and news reporter, and those names *are* confidential.

Some states define it as under 16, others under 17 or 18.